Constellations
by asian anonymous
Summary: Lucy Heartfilia died a long time ago, when she left the estate and joined Fairy Tail. But now that Lucy of Fairy Tail is dead too… How will the family and friends she left behind recover? What's more; how will Natsu deal with Yukino's new Celestial Spirit, whose blonde hair and brown eyes are more than just familiar to him?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **I PROMISE THIS IS NOT A TRAGEDY WAIT COME BACK.**

 **I swear to you guys, Lucy is not actually dead. I know, I know, spoilers. But I don't write or read** **tragedies. Ever. So I thought I'd give you all a heads up in case you have a similar policy to mine.**

 **So just in case you've never read any of my stories before, just a heads up: my official pen name might be asian anonymous, but everyone calls me Pyro. Always.**

 **(Also, this seems kinda similar to my other fic, Stronger, but this is completely separate from that.)**

* * *

Natsu saw it every time he closed his eyes.

He saw her falling, tipping back just enough for the wind to catch her like a kite. Tipping the scale; the soft breeze just barely tilting her backwards.

And for a moment, Lucy of Fairy Tail was flying.

Until she wasn't.

Then she was plummeting down the side of a cliff, arms outstretched like a fallen angel.

Her blonde hair even fit the image; drifting around her shoulders like a demented, bloody halo.

It would have almost been beautiful… if it hadn't been the last moment before the whole world began to spiral down into hell.

Lucy's mouth opened to let out a silent scream. Perhaps it hadn't been silent. But all that Natsu had been hearing at the time was the thumping of his heart in his ears, and his own deafening roar.

 _"LUCY!" He screamed, lunging forward, bounding towards the edge._

 _But she slipped through his grasp, and all he could do was stare, horrified as Lucy's already wounded figure disappeared into the darkness._

 _He couldn't move, he couldn't blink; all he could do was stare, too shell-shocked to even move._

 _And then a sickening crunch hit his sensitive ears, and he stopped breathing._

 _Just like Lucy._

 _His vision was swimming with spots, as his body tried to remember how to take in oxygen. But Natsu's brain… his brain was trying to push through the heavy cloud of grief and the confusion and the sorrow and form a coherent thought._

 _He was deaf to the world; the tears rolling down his cheeks and his teammates calling his name from across the battlefield not even registering. No, he was too sad, and too scared to turn away. Because if he turned away, he'd really be leaving Lucy behind. He'd have to talk to everyone else, and explain with broken words what had transpired._

 _And he would have to acknowledge the fact that Lucy was gone._

 _Lucy was dead. His Lucy, his partner his best friend on the whole fucking planet was gone and would never, ever come back._

 _She'd never run up and hug him from behind again, never snuggle up against him in her sleep, never comb her fingers through his hair on a particularly intense bout of motion sickness._

 _He would never get to see her smile again._

 _The mighty Roar of the Fire Dragon was unleashed upon Fiore that day, shaking the ground with the sheer power of the sound._

 _NO_

Natsu awoke with a jolt, springing upright in bed, sweat and tears pouring down his face. His chest rose and fell in irregular, jerky movements.

 _Not again._

 _Please, not again._

But no matter how much he silently pleaded to every religion, every deity, he'd ever heard of (and probably some made up ones as well), it was useless. He couldn't stop the rush of memories from washing over him, and then proceeding to make him feel like his heart was thrashing around inside of him. He twisted around in bed, trying to escape the feelings and the reminiscent images appearing before his eyes.

The first thing he remembered was that first mission. The first mission with Lucy, as a team.

That one didn't hurt as much. Not anymore.

Though he'd become somewhat desensitized to her appearance in his dreams, seeing her each time was still like a slap to the face.

The stinging sensation only lasted for a second, as he was whisked away to another scene.

It was Lucy.

Suspended in the Infinity Clock, the unmoving Celestial mage stared off into the distance at nothing.

This one wasn't so bad. Because that time, Lucy had been saved. Team Natsu had actually been there to save her (because god knows why; Lucy was always the target of _something_ ), and they had been successful. They'd rescued her; like a team was _supposed_ to _._

That time.

But then next memory… this one hurt. Like hell.

This one _did_ feel like a slap.

Well, more like a punch to the heart.

 _It was Lucy's birthday._

 _They were gathered around a table in the Guild hall, just finishing the last note of the song. Her cheeks filled with air before she blew out her birthday candles, mimicking a Dragon Slayer's roar. The tiny flames were extinguished, which brought on clapping and cheering from all sides._

 _Straightening, she turned to the tiny girl clapping excitedly on her left._

 _"So, Wendy, how was that? Am I good enough to be a Sky Dragon Slayer yet?"_

 _She winked at Wendy, whose laughter bubbled out. Beaming at Lucy, she responded with a sunny smile._

 _"I dunno..." Wendy teased. "I think you have a long way to go…"_

 _And with that, the two girls burst into a fit of giggles._

 _Natsu, leaning on Lucy's shoulder, rolled his eyes._

 _"Girls are so weird," he complained. But, none the less, he wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his nose in her neck. "Lucy…" he whined. "You're so weird…"_

 _Lucy only smiled in response, and put a hand to his head, patting it gently._

 _"Hey Natsu?"_

 _He looked up._

 _"Yeah Luce?"_

 _"Thank you," she said, genuinely giving thanks. She looked down at him, gratitude shining in her eyes._

 _"Thank you for all of this," she said, gesturing around at the Guild Hall, and all of her family._

 _"Thank you for bringing me to Fairy Tail."_

 _She leaned over, just brushing her lips over his cheek for a quick second._

 _His body was engulfed in fire, shivering from their brief contact. But he just waved off the feeling, ignoring the tingling of his nerves._

 _"No problem, Luce."_

That memory opened the floodgates.

Natsu crumpled under the weight of the memories, sobs racking his entire figure. He couldn't see through the tears, just blurred images and shapes.

He couldn't even hear Happy crying out his name, alarm clearly present in his tone.

Natsu didn't see the blue Exceed spread his wings either, and take off into the night.

All he saw was his Lucy, his beautiful and smart Lucy, dead and bleeding at the bottom of a ditch. He tumbled out of bed, and stumbled around until he found (what he assumed to be) his front door. Flinging the door open, he stepped out, and started to run.

Anything to get away from the memories of Lucy.

Now he was remembering her in his house, cooking for him, or bringing him soup that one time he had gotten sick. He saw her playing in the yard with Happy in the rain.

He ran farther, picking up the pace. His lungs burned, and his legs ached but he couldn't stop.

Until it all became too much.

His legs gave out from under him. He skidded to a stop, scraping his knees on the hard ground. He roared, letting loose a column of fire into the night sky.

"Natsu!" He finally heard when he'd regained his sense of hearing. He slammed his fist into the dirt, not looking up. Still breathing heavily, he'd known those voices long enough to recognize them on the spot.

"Go away," he breathed out, his voice quivering more than he'd like to admit. "Happy, go home. All of you, go back to sleep."

Erza's shaken voice was the first sound significant thing he'd heard all morning.

"Na- Natsu…" Erza started, moving forward to put a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't know-"

"You didn't know I was still having the nightmares?" Natsu asked, as he rose, a thinly concealed laugh in his voice. "You didn't realize it was this bad, is that was you were going to say?"

He realized then that he probably sounded out of his mind.

And he didn't care.

He turned on her, voice reaching an almost hysterical note.

"How could I not? We _lost_ her, Erza. We let her _die_ ," Natsu said, his voice cracking. Erza, dressed in her thin pajamas, felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, and cloud her vision.

Gray stepped forward, grabbing Natsu by the shoulders.

"Natsu," he said in a low voice, making sure to looking him right in the eyes. "That's not the point. Next time, you tell us. How are we supposed to help you?"

" ** _You can't help me!_** " Natsu snapped, wrenching himself away from Gray. He was curling in on himself, as if trying to make himself smaller.

Like he wanted to disappear.

"You don't get it! I see her everywhere! Everytime I close my eyes, every time I go to sleep she's there! And I miss her so damn much it hurts. It's like feeling her die all over again, every fucking night. Do you know what that feels like? In my dreams I see her smiling, and bright and alive and then I wake up… and she's gone," Natsu's voice broke off.

"Natsu... We know what it's like to lose-"

"No you don't!" Natsu roared. "I was the closest!"

"Natsu, that doesn't-"

"I _watched_ it happen! Do you know what _that's_ like?"

They went silent, their arguments dying on their lips.

"I _had_ her! Our hands brushed! For a moment, I could see it in her eyes, she believed that I was going to catch her! That I was going to be there to save her, _because that's what partners are supposed to do!"_

Natsu, breathing heavy as he finished his mantra... surprised them all by dropping down to the dirt. Submitting to his anguish, he crumpled.

"But I failed," Natsu whimpered. "I failed her and I failed the entire world because my one job was to protect Lucy, and now there's a world with no Lucy in it and what's the point of even existing anymore-" Natsu cut his own rambling off with a hiccup. That didn't stop him though. He went right on talking, hysteria reaching in and making his heart race. "-and I know I'm not alone and I know that, believe me I'm aware that you guys are here for me but-"

Natsu had his knees pulled up to his chest, and he was rocking back and forth.

Choking on his own sobs, Natsu felt Erza rubbing his back. Her own tears were landing on his back, dripping down and falling into the dirt. Gray himself was shaking with sobs and tears that he just couldn't contain. Clearly, bottling up all your emotions and waiting for it to blow up in your face was not the wisest thing to do.

Which is something they'd all learned the hard way.

Glancing over at Gray, Erza saw the dark circles lining his eyes.

"...you've been having nightmares too, I presume?" Erza guessed, not looking Gray in the eyes. Knowing he'd been found out, Gray lowered his head. He knew there wasn't anything to be embarrassed about. He was just... ashamed. Not for mourning Lucy, he would _never_ regret that, but for... not being strong enough when Natsu needed him. Of all of them, Natsu had seen the worst of it all.

"Yeah," was his short response.

And then his mind brought him to the one scene he didn't want to see.

 _Natsu emerged from the chasm, head bowed and eyes dark. Menacing shadows were cast across his face, giving him a more sinister look that Gray had ever witnessed. With Happy's wings seeming to emerge from the Dragon Slayer's back, Natsu looked like some sort of angel. An angel of death._

 _The corpse in his arms fit the image as well._

Natsu. It had to be Natsu, of all people.

Natsu had been the one to retrieve Lucy's broken body from the bottom of the pit.

 _At first he was silent, just staring down at Lucy's hair matted with blood that hadn't dried yet. Her eyes were closed, as if she were sleeping._

 _But they all knew that wasn't the case._

The scream he'd let out seconds after still haunted Erza's darkest nightmares. It seemed to have become the default soundtrack for any bad dream between the remaining members of Team Natsu. it was a sound that still rang clearly through their minds, a sound they just couldn't seem to forget. Though, to be fair, Lucy hadn't passed on all that long ago.

One month. Only one month since their dear teammate had died.

Needless to say, it had been a horrible month.

When they weren't mourning and crying and basically falling apart at the seams, they were slaving away on jobs. Hard ones. Usually on solo, seeing as they felt too miserable for companionship. Even Natsu didn't take Happy sometimes, so he could just pour all of his rage into a fight and not have to worry about scaring the little guy.

That, and... he didn't want to be responsible for another teammate's death on the battlefield. He couldn't live through another loss like that. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he was going to survive _this_ loss. (And judging by his current progress, things were _not_ looking good for him in the long run.)

He just wanted to hold her again... With her heart still thrumming strongly in her chest.

"Natsu, we know you and Lucy were... You two had a special relationship-"

"I loved her Gray, you can say it," Natsu interrupted, ignoring the concerned glances the Ex-quip and the Ice mages shared. He corrected himself. "I _love-_ " he swallowed "Lucy, and there's not really any use saying I don't."

Anxious about his blatant statement, Erza as Gray shared a look, communicating that maybe it was time to step in.

"Natsu... I'm aware that Levy already told you, but you know... She loved you too..."

"Yeah. We were both pretty stupid huh?" A laugh bubbled out from Natsu's lips. "Both of us, thinking we were destined to be only teammates forever. I can't believe-" he laughed once again. "I can't believe I waited so long to tell her."

He stared up at the stars, bright diamonds embedded in the dark sky above him.

"And now I'll never be able to."

Natsu and Lucy had spent nights just staring up at the stars together. Enough for him to be somewhat familiar with the patterns of stars that depicted Lucy's Spirits. (Whoever had decided that the stars looked anything like creatures, Natsu had dubbed crazy. Or, maybe just drunk.)

Maybe if he'd been paying more attention to the night sky, he would have seen a once-dim constellation glow, no longer dormant.

Andromeda.

Once the princess of Ethiopia, now depicted in the sky for all eternity for all to see.

It seemed that the position had finally been filled.

* * *

In the Spirit World, a human girl awoke.

Well... maybe not so human anymore.

* * *

 **So guys, you miss me? How was it? Not bad? Horrific? Whatever you think, I'd love to hear it! I know, I know, it's pretty crude so far. But believe me, I have some _big_ ideas for this story.**

 **-Pyro**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

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* * *

 _She remembered Natsu's face staring down at her, horrified, as she felt herself plummeting down. Smiling in a trance-like, dazed sort of phase, Lucy didn't realize until it was too late._

 _Natsu._

 _NATSU._

 _But before Lucy could open her mouth to scream his name one last time-_

 _Her body hit the bottom._

Lucy's eyes shot open.

And she immediately closed them.

 _Shit, it's bright._

It made sense, after being submerged in darkness for who knows how long, that her eyes would have to adjust. That didn't, however, justify the unusual amount detail that rushed at her head inch a short time. Lucy moaned, disoriented.

 _Huh. That was weird._

"Princess!" She heard a familiar cry.

 _Virgo._

Lucy sat up slowly, surprised to find that she felt... absolutely fine. Great, even.

She turned her head, to the side, cracking her neck and yawning. Blinking rapidly, she lifted a hand comb her hair back. But something caught her eye.

Lucy screamed.

Her right hand...

Was blank.

* * *

One unexpected downside of the whole thing, that no one had remembered until after the funeral, was Lucy's keys.

Her Celestial Spirits.

It was heartbreaking, to know that they hadn't even informed them of Lucy's passing in time for the ceremony. But how could they have? There was no way to summon them; not without another Celestial Wizard. And Yukino had been on a mission with Sting and Rogue at the time, so that counted her out.

And then, there was the matter of how the contracts would be changed.

 _When Yukino arrived at the Fairy Tail guild, having received the horrific news upon returning to her own guild, she came in flanked by Sting and Rogue on either side. The whole way there, she'd been jittery, stuck in a phase of denial. Lucy, her friend, couldn't have died. No. Impossible._

 _But then the news had been confirmed by Master Makarov himself, and Yukino had broken down immediately. Her hopeful demeanor cracking and shattering in an instant. Of course, Sting had been there to try and pick up the pieces, but he too had been rattled. (Yes, I ship Sting/Yukino. Deal with it.) Since he'd met them, the members of Fairy Tail, (all of them, not just Lucy), they'd always seemed... untouchable. Sure, sometimes they got into really, really bad situations, but... To have one of them die?_

 _For real?_

 _It came as a shock to both the twin Dragon Slayers. With shaky hands from both girls, Erza handed Yukino Lucy's key ring. Which resulted in a whole new wave of sadness, from Sabertooth and Fairy Tail members alike._

 _Still puffy-eyed and sniffling, Yukino chose one very specific key, and held it out with a trembling hand._

 _"Open. Gate of the Lion."_

 _...And that when it really began to go downhill._

 _Loke materialized with his back to his key, eyes trained on Gray's, of all people, tear-stained face._

 _"Hey gu- Gray, what the hell?" Loke began to approach, when with a quick glance to the side, he spotted Natsu's face._

 _His resemblance to a skeleton was uncanny._

 _Loke spun on his heel, ready to start demanding answers._

 _"Lucy, what the fuck is going o-"_

 _His expression fizzled out completely, once he saw the girl holding his key, who also looked like she was trying to to crumple in on herself, was most definitely not Lucy. Yukino, with tears streaming down her face, nearly dropped the shiny gold trinket. Sting rushed in to catch her, once he saw her knees buckling._

 _"No..." Yukino whispered, all faith drained from her voice. "No, I shouldn't have been able to call you out." She shook her head, not willing to believe it. "Another Celestial wizard can't summon a Spirit that's not theirs even with their key unless-" she hiccuped, a sob racking her chest._

 _"-unless the Spirit's previous contract has been broken."_

 _It took Loke a few seconds for that to sink in. It took another minute or two for him to fully understand what she was getting at._

 _"Lucy... Where's Lucy?!"_

 _Head whipping around frantically, Loke searched the room for the familiar blonde._

 _It was all in vain. She was nowhere to be seen. Surprisingly, Natsu had been the one to interrupt his futile search._

 _"She's dead," Natsu spoke, his voice raspy after not having used it for so long._

 _"Lucy's dead."_

* * *

Hysterical, Lucy quickly blinked, hoping her eyesore playing tricks on her. Continuing to stare at her hand, her breath was coming in short bursts.

"My- my guild mark," Lucy stammered. "Where is it? Where did it go?"

"Princess," Virgo said slowly. "Please, breathe."

Lucy complied, eyes still wild and wide.

"Your guild mark is gone because well... Technically speaking, you aren't a member of Fairy Tail anymore."

"Excuse me?!"

"Princess... you died."

"...huh?"

Suddenly the strange dream all made sense. Except, it wasn't a dream. It was a memory.

"...I fell off a cliff, didn't I?" Lucy asked hesitantly, knowing full well that she was right, before Virgo even responded. Flashes of the event were coming back to her rapidly, all piecing together to form a conclusion.

"Oh. So I'm dead?" Lucy asked, tilting her head to the side. "Huh. Man, this is not what I thought heaven would look like," Lucy mused, turning her head to get a better look around. Iridescent walkways were surrounded by floating crystal formations. What looked like stars glowed brightly in the distance. She currently sat in a grand structure that resembled an amphitheater.

"No, Princess, you are certainly not in heaven. You're just in the Spirit World."

"Oh..." Lucy suddenly bolted upright. "What the hell am I doing in the Spirit World? And if I'm dead, what happened to you? To all my Spirits? What about our contracts? Ohmygod, have you found new keepers for your keys? I'm so sorry for-"

"Only you could be apologizing for dying," Virgo said, her rarely seen, dry sense of humor making an appearance. "Yes, our contracts were all dissolved, but we were all passed on to your good friend-"

Lucy thought it over, before realizing there was only one person who her keys could have possibly gone to.

"Oh, Yukino! That's great, she's an amazing person, who really cares about her Spirits!"

"-and you aren't dead," Virgo interrupted Lucy's epiphany.

"You're a Spirit."

* * *

Yukino stared down at the keys that now were hers. It was like a slap in the face looking at Lucy's keys-

 _Not Lucy's keys. Not anymore. My keys,_ Yukino mentally corrected herself. She found herself slipping up more often now, accidentally forgetting the Spirits were technically _hers_ now. But in her heart, she knew, just as well as everybody did, that they weren't truly her Spirits. They were Lucy's.

Sighing, Yukino banged her head down onto the table. Moaning, she proceeded to repeat the action twice more.

 _Two weeks. Two measly weeks._

"You do know that you'll end up bruising your forehead like that?" A voice came from behind her. Not even looking up, Yukino knew who it was.

"Ah. Rogue." She heard his gentle footsteps as he approached. He took a seat next to her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Once, he would have chuckled and then made an effort to humor her. But not since... Yeah. And certainly, not now, with everything going on.

"It'll be so strange," Yukino whispered, knowing Rogue would be able to hear it just fine. Though, she was talking more to herself than anything else. "Not having her there for it this year. It won't feel the same." Yukino gulped in air before continuing. "I know last year things went horribly for her, and we're partly to blame. But still-"

"It won't _really_ be Fairy Tail without her. I understand."

Yukino raised her head to give him a grateful look. She was appreciative for his words, and her eyes showed it.

"... Well, no use standing around, is there?" Yukino asked after a few moments of comfortable silence, her voice considerably lighter. She stood, holding out a hand to pull Rogue off the wooden bench. He took it, and as usual, was surprised by the strength the Celestial mage possessed. It was hard to keeping mind that this pretty, innocent-appearing girl had once been trained in the military.

"Two weeks," Yukino said absentmindedly. "Will Fairy Tail even be ready in two weeks?"

"I doubt it," Rogue replied honestly after thinking it over. "All of Fairy Tail's old fighting spirit seems to have vanished. They still take on and accomplish extraordinary feats. But from what I've heard, and this rumor I happen to believe is true, their driving force seems to be sorrow. Sometimes anger, or trying to achieve retribution for Lucy. I don't know how I feel about fighting them, even if it is a friendly match. It just all seems... wrong."

"But then again, they always have been rather good at avenging their comrades. And especially Luc-" Rogue tripped over the name, wincing. "Dammit," he swore. "It's had to grasp, even now. That she's gone."

"I still can't believe they even entered this year," Yukino admitted, .

"Well, at least the Grand Magic Games will finally give them something to devote their energy to."

* * *

"...Me?!" Lucy squeaked in disbelief. "A Spirit?"

"Why yes," a booming voice came form behind them. "It appears that is the situation."

Virgo's calm composure faltered for a second. Which was extraordinary and inexplicable on its own, but more importantly, Lucy managed to follow the quick changes in her facial expression.

Virgo bowed deeply, and Lucy didn't quite understand before turning around herself.

The Celestial Spirit King.

"Oh!" Lucy yelped, remembering her manners. When she instinctively went to give a deep curtsy (like ones she'd learned to do impeccably with her private tutors as a young child), Lucy noticed what she was wearing and her bafflement only grew.

Rising from her show of respect, Lucy cleared her throat.

"So umm, your... Majesty?" Lucy asked, not sure exactly what to address him as. He chuckled, crossing his arms of his chest.

"What, no 'Stache-Face' this time?" he asked, his voice laced with humor. Remembering her first encounter with the overwhelmingly powerful being, Lucy blushed. When she opened her mouth to stammer out an apology, he simply let out a laugh.

"I'm just playing with you," he said, still chuckling. "No hard feelings, eh?"

Nervously, Lucy glanced over at Virgo for guidance. Virgo shrugged, clearly not in her element.

"So, uh, your Highness, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Well I was just wondering... why exactly am I a Spirit?"

"Because of your service to _your_ Spirits, I would guess," he answered. Lucy's eyebrows rose.

"You would guess? You mean, this wasn't your doing?"

"No, it isn't, though I do agree with whatever forced allowed this to be so."

"Why me though?" Lucy pressed. "There have been other Celestial Wizards before me. They died, and they passed on. What makes me so special? Other Celestial Wizards have cared about their Spirits before."

"Yes, that might be so. But take it from me, I have never met another mage that went to such great lengths for their Spirits. Like your efforts that kept your dear friend Leo alive. You would rather die than not do everything in your power to keep your Spirits safe. But I am also led to believe you were given this opportunity because, well... you deserve a second chance."

"But..." Lucy took a moment to look down again. She had to admit, it was... nothing short of perfect. However... "What the hell is this getup?"

It was a Greek inspired dress, Lucy was fairly certain. White fabric fell to her ankles, and was slit up the sides of both legs, making it surprisingly easy to move around. (Which led her to believe that fighting in it wouldn't be much of a challenge either. That is, as long as she didn't trip over the skirt.) With a golden belt worn higher than her hips, and matching gold bands around her biceps, Lucy looked like royalty from another era.

Lifting the white fabric just a bit, she saw she wore sandals laced halfway up her calf. Placed on her head (though, she didn't know it just yet), was a laurel, dotted with tiny white flowers.

"You have taken on a role that has been vacant for quite some time. Andromeda, the princess of Ethiopia. I assume you've heard the legend?"

Lucy nodded.

"The story of the princess Andromeda, who was to be sacrificed to a giant sea serpent to appease the gods. She was chained to a rock on the coast, left to die. The hero, Perseus, happened to be passing by on his winged sandals after killing the gorgon medusa. Using his sword and shield, he defeated the monster, and took Andromeda's hand in marriage," Lucy recounted the story, reciting it almost word for word from her mythology lesson.

"Well, like many legends, this one contains some truth. Though," he tapped his shin, thinking deeply. "I do believe somewhere along the line the roles were switched, and a mistake was made. Andromeda was the hero, with the sword and shield, who flew in to save the day."

An amused glimmer came to the King's eyes then, and it made Lucy nervous.

"Though, you'll notice that _your_ wings aren't on your shoes."

Lucy, looking down to confirm what she already knew, saw that indeed, her shoes were lacking wings.

 _Then where...?_

Her eyes widened with realization.

 _Oh._

Her lips stretched back, revealing teeth as she broke out into a wicked grin.

"Oh, that is _cool_."

Craning her neck to look behind her, Lucy found them folded up against her back.

Her very own wings.

And then she remembered. Out of nowhere, it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"The Guild!" She cried, horrified that she hadn't realized sooner. "My friends! Ohmygod, if I'm dead, then... _How will I ever see them again?"_ Lucy was wringing her hands, panic spreading like wildfire though her nerves. "My team! What about them? Oh god, I was on a job with them at the time, are they all okay? Did they... Did they make it?" Virgo nodded, and Lucy sighed with relief.

"Good," her smiled faltered once more. "But... _Natsu..._ " she looked up at the king. "Will I ever see him again?"

"Well, that I can't be sure about. It's all up to your new 'master,' so to speak. In other words, if your key holder allows it."

"...speaking of which, who is the holder of my key now?" Lucy asked. She turned to Virgo. "I assume my keys," Lucy stopped, the fact that her Spirits were not longer, well, _her Spirits_ just hitting her. "I mean, your keys were passed on to..."

Virgo nodded, answering Lucy's question.

"Well alright then. And does this mean my key also...?" Virgo nodded once more.

"Awesome."

* * *

Following the broad strides of the King, Lucy found it wasn't hard to keep up.

Flying really made distances seem a lot smaller.

Lucy looped around several times, whooping with joy at the sensation of finally, actually flying. Her wings made strong, powerful strokes, propelling her body as she twisted and turned in the air. Testing her control, Lucy stopped in midair, and suddenly dropped to the ground, landing softly on her toes.

Virgo almost smiled, the corners of her eyes even crinkling.

 _While Virgo usually didn't show much emotion, today had been an exception._

 _Loke had just brought the news of Lucy's death a few hours ago. (Remember, time is a lot faster in the Spirit World). To say they'd taken it hard was an understatement. They're been utterly devastated. For many of them, especially Loke and Aries, they'd never had a contract with a Celestial Mage who treated them as real people. Friends, even. Sure, from what Lucy had told them... back when she was alive, Yukino was a kind 'master' as well. But... it just wasn't the same._

 _Aquarius and Loke seemed to be taking it the hardest. Loke, the person who Lucy had once risked her own life to save, was full of anger that had nowhere to go. Translation: he was full of rage, and was not to be bothered. Aquarius, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. She was silent._

 _Aquarius._

 _ **Silent.**_

 _Two words which should never have been used in the same sentence, had somehow become a reality._

 _Which was how the other Spirits knew that things were not looking good. When the 'big three' so to speak (Aquarius, Loke, and Virgo) had no more faith in a situation, that's when... Things weren't looking so good. Things were bad. Really bad._

 _The future looked pretty bleak as of late, and no one was sure if things would ever really be okay again. Their grief was so... raw and painful, that it began to eat them up inside, and would probably wear them all away until nothing was left._

 _That's what Virgo had been thinking. That's how Virgo had felt._

 _Until she felt the great burst of energy just suddenly appear out of nowhere. The disturbance sent her senses into red alert immediately, and Virgo was on her feet faster than a human eye could register. Nearly tripping over herself in her haste to focus on something other than her mourning, Virgo was racing through the deserted pathways. While not all the Spirits had a personal connection to Lucy (hell, some of them hadn't even ever met her), it was a very serious thing for a Celestial Wizard to pass away, especially while still holding contracts with Spirits at the time._

 _Everyone mourned._

 _Everyone._

 _Even the King kept his head bowed in respect for the strong-willed girl he'd encountered on several occasions._

 _That being said, it wasn't hard to navigate through a crowd... Seeing as it was nonexistent._

 _In the Spirit World, each Spirit had a... house of some sort. A designated place that really was theirs, and held a familiarity that put them at ease. The structure paired with each Spirit was technically where they lived (they had to be somewhere when they weren't being summoned, right?), an area that was home to them._

 _Imagine Virgo's surprise when a giant Colosseum came into view._

 _Virgo skidded to a stop, staring in bewilderment at the huge structure that had most definitely not been there earlier that day._

 _And then imagine her entering the giant structure, to find a newborn Spirit laid out in the very center of the floor. Not a single hair out of place, the figure was unmoving, and their lips just barely curved up into a smile. Almost as if they were having a good dream._

 _Which was ironic, seeing as a) that was most definitely not the case and b) this was slowly becoming a living nightmare for Virgo._

 _And then her eyes, which had been focused on the sleeping figure's mouth, slid upwards to take in the rest of the face._

 _"Princess!"_

* * *

 **What do you think of it?**

 **-Pyro**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

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* * *

 _Looking back at it, Virgo didn't know how she hadn't recognized her at the very first glance._

 _Maybe it had been because both of the slender hands laid over her stomach were blank. Perhaps that had been why._

 _To her very soul, Virgo had believed Lucy was dead. Why would she even consider the possibility of this strange new Spirit being her recently deceased key holder?_

 _Or maybe it had been because any sense of hope had immediately been distinguished when Loke had returned. When he'd left, the magic energy that had summoned him had been off, and they'd all felt it. Things had been feeling... off for several hours now. (Again, remember that it's equivalent to a while longer in the Human World. Also, Lucy's Spirits hadn't been alerted for a few weeks.)_

 _Through clenched teeth, he had been short and to the point, leaving no room for argument._

 _"She's dead," Loke replied flatly._

 _Lucy was dead. Definitely. No 'what ifs' or 'buts' this time. No exceptions. But Aquarius was stubborn, the most stubborn creature any of them had ever met in their years of service, and she was not letting it go that easily._

 _"That's it?!" Aquarius demanded harshly after a moment of stunned silence."Is this some kind of sick joke?! That's all you're gonna tell us?! You must be crazy if you think I'm going to just sit here and take that bullshit without-"_

 _"She was shot and fell off a cliff," Loke deadpanned._

 _"...Natsu was the one to retrieve the body," he added after a minute."About three weeks ago. They tried to reach us but... Well, the only one who's able to call any of us out is Yukino. And she didn't even know about it until a few Earthland hours ago."_

 _Virgo didn't think she'd ever seen Aquarius shed a tear. Not after all this time of knowing her._

 _She could now say for sure that it was an experience she never wanted to repeat._

* * *

Virgo's expression had melted into a contented half-smile as she watched the newborn Spirit soar overhead, twisting and turning, sometimes even looping over and under the pathways. The laurel perched atop her head miraculously stayed in place (though Virgo had a strong suspicion that there was something more to the hair ornament, whether it be magic or simply clips securing it to her head) as she experimentally tested the strokes of her wings.

"Miss Lucy," the King called out. Lucy slowed down, to hover. The trio came to a standstill, as Lucy lowered to the ground. Hovering a mere three feet off the ground, Lucy still had to crane her neck to meet the eyes of the king. Respectfully curtsying (in midair no less, Lucy somehow would always possess the qualities of a well-groomed lady), Lucy looked at him inquiringly.

"Yes?"

"There's something I nearly forgot. The matter of your key," the King responded.

"Yes, I know, Virgo and I were just discussing it," Lucy said. "From what I've gathered, my key should rightfully pass on with the rest of my k- my _old_ keys," Lucy corrected her slip-up quickly. Though the King had most definitely heard her stumble painfully over the mistake, he didn't mention it. Clearly a topic that shouldn't be touched.

"That would be correct. Logically, the key that anchors you to a contract holder would be passed on to the young lady who now possesses the other 12 golden keys"

"Other? You mean... I have a golden key too? But... But with all due respect your Majesty, that's impossible! There are only twelve of them! I would know, I used to own more than half of them!" Lucy exclaimed.

"There _w_ _ere_ only twelve keys," he corrected. "But now that's changed."

He went silent for a minute.

"...I got this just when I felt your energy appear out of nowhere," the Celestial Spirit King admitted. Holding his hand out, a shiny gold key rested in his palm. He offered it to the stunned Spirit. Flapping her wings once, just enough to propel her high enough to reach the trinket he was presenting to her.

Gingerly, Lucy's new 'calling card' so to speak was exchanged between the two. Floating in her cupped hands, the key was glowing.

"Why- why is it doing that? How come it was normal when you held it?" Lucy asked, mesmerized at the levitating key.

"Because it's _yours,"_ The King responded with a hearty laugh. "That key is tied to your energy, a link that is able to somehow convey the will of the keeper of your key. You'll feel it; that they want you to come out. And in stronger situations, you might even be able to feel that without the key. Maybe even their emotions."

Lucy just stared, not knowing what to say, as she looked the small part of her, that was essentially tethered to her soul.

"...Wow," Lucy finally managed, tearing her eyes away from the little metal piece. "So... I'm not Yukino's Spirit _yet,_ right?"

"That is correct Princess," Virgo confirmed, noting her head. Lucy turned her head, a sad glint in her eyes now.

"Virgo... You really shouldn't call me that anymore. We're not contracted any- I don't hold your key anymore," Lucy corrected, though it hurt to admit. Looking at it, both the King and Virgo were surprised at how Lucy had been taking it. Any normal person would have had a much harder time accepting that they were dead.

"Be that as it may, but to me, and to all of your old Spirits, you will always be our Princess," Virgo reassured.

"And besides, what part of the legend did you miss? Andromeda was the _princess_ of Ethiopia. Ergo, the term stays."

Lucy, amused at her the maid's word choice, who was time and time again proving to be very... proper as usual. (I mean, 'ergo?' C'mon. Imagine Vrigo casually dropping that word. It totally could happen.)

Virgo's mouth twisted into a grin now, and was surprised herself that she was actually excited for something.

"Now let's go see what this princess can do."

* * *

Gajeel scowled.

 _Dammit._

 _God._

 _Fucking._

 _Dammit._

"Are you kidding me?!"

Gajeel rose from his seat, face stormy. Looking at the Master with something very far from respect, Gajeel seemed to be restraining himself from killing someone right then and there.

"Have you gone senile, old man? I leave for three weeks on a mission and come back to this train wreck. You want me to _what?_ "

"Compete in the Grand Magic Games," Master Makarov responded calmly. "Last time, you were one of the five members who helped us win the final event. Rationally, it made sense to put you on the team once more-"

"That's not the issue," Gajeel objected through clenched teeth. "The issue is that this isn't the time to start worrying about our guild's appearance. Not like last time, when we had something to prove since the majority of Fairy Tail's disappearance. This year, especially now-" he gulped. "-since... you know. But this year? Why?"

"Because Fairy Tail needs to get their minds off of things. A common objective. I'm afraid if we don't do something soon, the grief will simply swallow us whole," Makarov explained, gesturing around the guild hall. "Tell me, what do you see?"

Gajeel snorted.

"It was a rhetorical question. You see what I see, a family who has lost a family member." Bowing his head, he gestured that the request board, which was surprisingly barren. "You see that? That's how we're coping. It's how we've been coping for the past month. Job after job. Channeling grief and anger into magic and beating our (very unfortunate) opponents. But we can't do that anymore. Now, at the very least, we can all cope together, and fight together as one guild."

Gajeel nodded.

"Aright. I understand. So, who else is going up? Assuming we'll have only one team this year."

"So far, what I have in mind is a team of you, Gray, Erza, Juvia, and..." Master Makarov looked down guiltily, fiddling with his fingers. Gajeel's eyes widened.

"...please tell me that you're not thinking of putting..." Gajeel trailed off, a very bad feeling forming in his gut. Just the once, he _prayed_ that he was wrong. Just this once.

"Yep."

"I take it all back. That's nuts. _You're_ nuts," Gajeel added on, jabbing a finger at him. "Good luck with convincing that hothead to compete."

"I thought it would be best for those taking it the hardest to go up and represent us."

"What about Levy? She didn't seem to be doing very well either. They were really close, after all. What about her? Why not send her up?" Master raised an eyebrow at his subtle transition of the conversation, as the Iron Dragon's focus was (quite predictably) on the petite Solid-Script Mage. Noticing his rather... smug expression, Gajeel scowled at him.

"What's with that look?"

"...Miss McGarden really seems to have caught your attention there," Makarov mused, tilting his head to the side as if imagining something. Trying to rationalize a theory.

"I see. So, what is it you kids say nowadays? Do you 'have the hots' for Miss Levy?" Makarov asked, only mild curiously in his voice. Gajeel simply stared at him for a moment, not quite sure what he was asking. Until he'd finally deciphered the meaning hidden in the (amazingly our of date and rather awkward) phrase.

Quickly transitioning from tan to scarlet, Gajeel was a shade that bore a striking resemblance to a tomato's hue. Or perhaps a fire hydrant. Maybe even a deep red rose.

But that could all be relived and laughed about at a later time. Now, Master Makarov was occupied with the task of trying to to lose it right then and there at the sight of the poor boy's face. Stifling his gleeful laugh with a well-timed cough, Makarov was quick to dodge Gajeel's half-assed attempt at a swipe.

" _Shut yer mouth!"_ Gajeel hissed, still scarlet-faced. Lunging for the old man wasn't going to work, because a) this _was_ the Master of one of the most powerful Guilds in Fiore and b) Gajeel is much, _much_ slower when he's flustered.

Then again, he always fought better when he was desperate...

"Oh, so you _do_ have-"

" _SHHH!"_ Gajeel shushed, head snapping around to make sure no one was watching this little scene. Most importantly, the little bookworm herself. With her size, it would be easy for her to go unnoticed in the room. Especially when her vibrant blue hair was usually hidden, as she was typically buried in a large tome.

Relief flooding his body when he saw that none was around to witness the Master's (true) speculation, Gajeel relaxed. Waiting for the color to wash out of his cheeks, Gajeel inhaled deeply.

 _Breathe in._

 _Breathe out._

Once his heart rate was back to normal, and his face was a healthy tan once again, he cautiously scanned the room while he waited for his breathing to return to normal.

Satisfied that the tiny girl was't crammed in a corner or something where she could easily overhead the Master's rather unexpected (by all of Gajeel's accounts anyway) accusation, Gajeel let out a sigh of relief. But this time his hand shot out, and made contact with the old man.

Lifting him up by his shirt, a thoroughly humiliated Gajeel had Master Makarov dangling from his fist. Master Makarov clearly could've escaped the hold, but... not without at least one blow to the face. (And, he had a sinking feeling that the fist coming at him would not be flesh, but most likely iron.) But the Master just regarded him calmly, simply tilting his head a bit more to the left.

"So... That's a yes then?"

Gleeful at the panic suddenly flashing across the Iron Dragon Slayer's face, the Master took the chance to slip away, mischief written all over him.

"Well, well. What do you know? Don't worry son, your secret is safe with me!" And then the little devil had the audacity to run off.

Rolling his eyes, Gajeel stomped off, now looking to find none other than Gray Fullbuster.

There was a certain feeling in his gut... they needed to be ready to deal with a distraught Natsu Dragneel.

Better safe that sorry, right?

* * *

"Excellent, Princess," Virgo praised, lightly clapping. "You're doing wonderfully!" Virgo called up at her.

Lucy, looking uneasy as she brought her hands up, tried one more. A golden glow started in her palms, but quickly sputtered out after a few seconds. Lucy let out a frustrated groan, and would've stomped her foot right then and then if she hadn't been a good twenty feet in the air.

"Princess, you just have to let it come to you. Relax and just stop thinking about it so hard," Virgo coaxed. "Just... let it happen," she finished lamely, not sure how to explain the sensation of summoning certain moves or powers. Sighing, Lucy released the tension in her shoulders.

Instinctually, Lucy found herself holding her hands out, glowing light suddenly blossoming from her fingertips. Spreading them in front of her, the light expanded from both hands and pooled together in front of her to form some sort of... shield. Lucy stared in awe, at the thing she had created.

Dropping her hands, Lucy watched the shield dissolve.

Pulling her wings in and dropping like a stone, Lucy landed next to Virgo, who was _almost_ startled by her sudden control. Though she had fallen with great force, Lucy landed on her feet, not even teetering a fraction of a centimeter. Slightly tipping her head down, Virgo gave an approving nod.

"Now, Andromeda-"

"It's Lucy, the blonde interrupted, immediately looking apologetic. "I'm sorry, your majesty. I meant no disrespect." The King laughed, casually waving her off.

"You are excused," he said, making her exhale with relief. "I'm sorry I should have realized, you were not going to part with your human name."

"Thank you."

"As I was saying, I want you to try and see what other abilities pop up. You aren't even fully developed as a Spirit yet. And even so, fully matured Spirits _can_ develop more powers. Some other things are bound to show up, besides your defensive capabilities. When put in certain situations, your body will react on instinct, making it easier for you to identify what you can do. Like this-" The King suddenly lunged out, stabbing his sword forwards.

Reacting automatically, Lucy raised her arms, a shield erupting over her and Virgo from all sides, and connecting to form a dome. His sword stuck, bounding off harmlessly. Through the gold light, Lucy saw the King smirk, and her eyes narrowed, a smile playing at her own lips.

"So you see, you _can_ do other things. Now, let's see what else you've got."

 _If he wants to play that way, fine._

She lashed out, her shield dissipating instantly. A huge blast of energy shot out from her hand, striking him in the chest. The other had formed a protective barrier in front of Virgo, who was taking this all in with thinly veiled amusement.

Now, her hand outstretched, Lucy found the light swirling from her fingertips was twisting and shaping itself.

Into a sword.

Now, the glowing light fading out, Lucy stared at the well balanced weapon she held in her hand. (Erza had tried to arm her with a sword once, just for extra protection. Just in case, god-forbid, something happen with her keys, as it did in the Eclipse Celestial Spirits Arc. It was decided, after the sword had been handed to her and Lucy had nearly collapsed under the weight of it, that maybe she could just stick with the whip.)

This... This felt right. In her hand, it was a perfect fit. (But, that was probably because she had created the sword herself... With her own magic...)

Tossing the sword from hand to hand, Lucy found herself smiling, and looking up, she found the King smiling as well.

"There you go," Virgo said, stepping forward. "Princess, I think you're ready to meet your new master."

A pleased sort of look suddenly crept up into her eyes. The rest of her face remained impassive, though. Virgo was regaining her ability to keep her cool demeanor, despite being rather pleased on the inside.

"But first... I think you should say hello to some old friends."

* * *

 **Hey guys. So, I know this chapter was pretty slow, and Lucy's powers seem kinda... suckish so far. But just in case anyone wants a list of what my ideas for her powers are** ** _of far_ , I'll put it in the AN in the beginning of the next chapter. **

**Hope it wasn't all that bad,**

 **-Pyro**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **So I'm going to make this fast because I know you'd probably rather get to the being said, I won't be able to respond to most of the reviews. (SORRY, I'M SORRY.) So, this chapter is dedicated to the following people:**

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* * *

Lucy was nervously tapping out a rhythm on her thighs, rippling the now much shorter fabric. (The first thing Lucy had done with her sword was hack off the fabric of her dress to knee-length. Having decided that it really _would_ just get in her way, Lucy decided it was best to make the skirt shorter. Lucky for her, Virgo was a rather talented seamstress and hemmed it rather well.)

She'd put away the sword, having learned that she could make it appear and disappear at will with ease.

Now, with her laurel still perfectly in place on her head, Lucy hovered with her chin tilted up, as she stared at the stars and sky above her. There were planets and colors and it was all just... amazing. This place, this universe... This was Lucy's world now.

It was funny to think about; that she wasn't from Earthland anymore. She could masquerade as the human girl known as Lucy as much as she wanted, but that didn't change the fact that she wasn't her anymore. Not really. They had the same face and the same voice,and maybe even the same soul, if that's what you'd call it. But everything else... it was all different.

With one powerful stroke, Lucy sent herself farther up, feeling as if she did it enough times, maybe she would be able to reach those stars.

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but Lucy felt like things were clearer now. Things looked sharper, and things were louder. It was all... very different. Good, but different. If she were to guess, she'd say it had something having to do with her being a Spirit now. (And, if she were to guess that, she'd be correct.) It was just, there was so much to take in, and so much to think about. What really bothered her was the thought of her life now.

Maybe it was the fact that she would never age and die.

Yes, that was most definitely it. The pang in her chest at the thought of it was her proof.

Lucy ached to see her Guildmates, her nakama. While she knew it was wrong, she was more excited to see them than her Celestial Spirit friends. But, she had to start thinking about it, right? She had to spend every minute she had left with them, because before she knew it... They'd be gone.

 _My Spirits-_

 _Dammit._ Lucy cursed as she had to correct herself yet again. _My old Spirits; we have forever together._

Her body went stiff at the thought of someday attending one of the funeral she knew would come too soon.

 _What about Natsu?_

Lucy's eyes were gleaming with tears now, as she stared up at one of the far away stars.

 _I never... I ran out of time. For him, for everything._

There were things she could never do now. She could never finish her book, or become certified as an S-Class Mage... Or even have a _family_ of her own someday. She'd never have children now, or get married-

Lucy's sob cut off the rest of her fantasy, which was probably for the best. If she let herself get too carried away; and let her head float in the clouds... the return trip on the way down would only be more painful.

Virgo, who was standing far below her, watched her dear friend (though, if anyone asked her, she probably would have phrased it differently) with her wings outstretched. Squinting, she was just able to make out Lucy reach her arms out, fingertips pointed towards the heavens.

Lucy just wanted to touch the stars.

Virgo had told the Spirits to gather in the pavilion-like structure. Deciding not to just dump her extraordinary find on them (she feared if Loke's sanity would stay intact if she did), she'd proposed they all meet up to discuss their new master.

Loke, at the moment, was attempting to get Aquarius to leave her own sanctuary. (Though, he was reluctant to go as well.)

It was when drops of water landed softly on Virgo's face, that she knew Lucy wasn't okay. Far from it.

But maybe... Maybe what she needed to see some old friends.

The human ones.

Not to mention... her best friend, who had held the potential to be more than friends.

* * *

"No," Natsu deadpanned. Gajeel rolled his neck, taking the rare chance to actually look at Natsu during one of the scarce times when he wasn't off beating the shit out of something. (On a job of course. He'd never just go around, completely unjustified, destroying things on purpose. If it happened unintentionally in the midst of a job... that was just added bonus.)

His skin looked a sickly white in comparison to the dark purple bruises under his eyes. Though, he was still physically superior to most people (as he had been before Lucy's passing), he seemed emotionally and mentally weaker then he'd ever been in his life. Including that brief period when Igneel had left him. Even after Lisanna's 'death' all those years ago when he had still been a child; it had never been this bad.

Never.

They were seated in Natsu's favorite café, the one he'd visited frequently with Lucy. They sat in that same table Natsu and Lucy used to _always_ sit in, with an extra chair pulled up for the Iron Dragon Slayer. Nowadays, Natsu would usually go alone, or sometimes with Gray after they were both so miserable they took a job together. Misery loves company, right?

"See, that's what I told the old man you were gonna say. I'm still on the edge about it myself," Gajeel admitted.

Gray approached the table, having just returned from the restroom. Flopping down on the empty seat, Gray picked up his glass of water and sipped quietly.

"Did you guys order yet?" Gray inquired casually, eyes skimming over the lunch specials. They both shook their heads. Calling over a waitress, they all placed their orders, Gajeel asking for any pieces of junk metal they would be getting rid of. (The waitress didn't even bat an eye at his unusual order, this was Magnolia. They'd gotten stranger requests than that.)

"So, did I miss anything?" Gray asked, cracking his knuckles. Gajeel rose an eyebrow at the pink haired man who was glowering into his glass. Emptying his drink, Natsu wiped at his mouth, still wearing a scowl. Turning his head in the opposite direction as a refusal, Gajeel sighed. Combing his calloused hands through his long mane, he sighed.

"The old geezer registered us for the Grand Magic Games this year," Gajeel said, leaning back in his chair. Gray choked.

"Excuse me?"

"Yep."

"No, sorry I must have misheard you because that is the most ridiculous, ludicrous, stupid thing I've ever heard in my entire life."

"You heard me right. The team is you, me, the flame brain over there," Gajeel said, jabbing a thumb in Natsu's direction, "Erza and Juvia. Our backup is Mira. He thinks it's best that those who are taking it the hardest, and who have experience being in the ring to represent us this year. That's why the powerhouses (example: 'Mystogan' and Laxus etc. Oh, and Gildarts. But he's never around anyway so...) aren't gonna be up there this time," Gajeel explained. Gray scoffed.

"Why do we even _need_ representing? We've go nothing to prove; we kicked ass last year and we won. Fiore knows we're good; the best of the best. Besides, if he hasn't noticed, it isn't exactly the best time for this."

"Master did say that it would be good for everyone, not just us on the team, to all be together and working towards on goal. Y'know, to unite us or some sentimental crap like that. But it seems like a pretty good outlet to me," Gajeel added. "He says kicking ass as a Guild will make us feel better. Also, he says we should win in honor of-" he cleared his throat. "Lucy," he said softly, though he knew Natsu would hear anyway. Natsu stiffened, his grasp on his glass tightening.

"...can we not say her name?" Natsu asked softly, his eyes brimming with tears at just the sound of her name. Grimly, Gajeel and Gray exchanged looks, nodding slowly.

"Yeah. Sorry Natsu," Gray apologized. "I... I miss her too." Gajeel waited a moment before speaking up.

"...did you ever ask her? Or even tell her?" He asked quietly, perfectly clear to Natsu, just barely loud enough for Gray to catch. Gray raised an eyebrow at the Dragon Slayer whose face was slowly but surely clouding with regret. "I always assumed you did but-"

"No," Natsu answered shortly. "I never did." Gajeel tensed.

"Dude..."

"I know," Natsu groaned, slamming his head down on the table. The salt and pepper shakers rattled, as did the glasses resting on the tabletop. His has went to his hair, tugging on his pink (or salmon, as he used to always insist) locks. "I'm an idiot."

"Uhh, someone want to let me in on whatever's going on?" Gray asked, thoroughly baffled.

"Natsu's a Dragon Slayer," Gajeel stated bluntly.

"Well, yes. I noticed," Gray retorted, with an obvious bite of sarcasm. "Kinda hard to miss, you know?" Gajeel rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't done yet, numbskull. I was _about_ to say, before I was rudely interrupted: you know how Dragon Slayers have mates?" Gray's eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes, I believe Laxus mentioned just the other day," Gray recalled, tapping his chin. Purposely leaving out the context of that conversation, he avoided bringing it up. "Something like being 'soulmates' I think?"

"Pretty much, yeah. See, we only get one. Ever. I mean, we could try and be with someone else, but... it wouldn't be the same. It would just feel wrong. Any other romantic experience would just pale in comparison to just being around your mate."

"So? What's this got to do with Lu-" Gray's eyes widened. "Oh. _Oh._ " At his obvious realization, Gajeel raised a studded eyebrow at Gray.

"'Oh?' You mean, you didn't- Are you blind?!"

"Dude! Natsu was like, the most oblivious guy on the planet! We all thought he didn't even understand the concept of a girlfriend! I mean, _I_ had suspicions about him and Lucy, but I never thought he'd be _in love_ with her _!_ " Gray protested.

"Believe me, I understand the concept," Natsu grumbled, thoroughly disgruntled. "I just come off stupider on purpose. Makes my life easier. Less questions asked." Gray noted that he didn't deny the whole 'in love with' part.

"How the hell was I supposed to know?" Gray continued, deciding he would _definitely_ be revisiting that in the future. He really, _really_ needed to stop babbling. Now. But words were just pouring out, after Natsu's _extremely_ unexpected confession. "I mean, after all, half the guild still thinks you've got a thing for-" Gray clamped his mouth shut, curing inwardly at slipping up so bad.

 _Dammit dammit god fucking dammit Gray. Nice job._

And then there was silence.

Dead. Silence.

Gajeel had gone mute, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Natsu, on the other hand, was wearing an expression comprised of what looked like confusion and disbelief. And was that... Was he _angry_?

"Hold up. Wait a second. _Excuse me?_ " Natsu cut in, leaning forward. (If Natsu hadn't been staring so intensely at him he feared he'd burn a hole through his head, Gray would have been relieved. For the first time in a long time, his cheeks were a healthy color, and he seemed animated with passion.)

"I- well I mean, I wasn't -actually I mean, I wasn't saying that everyone thinks you, wait, actually no, I was but-" Gray's rambling was cut off by the sound of him facepalming.

 _I._

 _Need._

 _To._

 _Shut._

 _Up._

Gajeel looked half amused and had incredulous. (It was a real weird expression, I can say that.) He cleared his through, his hands splayed out over the table. He was laughing, a mixture of chuckles and snorts.

"So, you're telling me no one noticed Salamander's affections for Blondie?" Gajeel asked, disbelieving. Natsu winced at the very mention of her, even if it wasn't by name. "No one? It was just me, Laxus and Wendy?" This time, Gray held his hands up.

"Whoa whoa whoa back up. Wendy knew about this?" Gray asked. "About Natsu?"

"Well duh. It's a Dragon Slayer thing, I guess. Like how Natsu's always known who my mate is, and I know who Wendy's after (Gray snorted at this, knowing there was only one possibility in the small Sky Dragon Slayer's case), and Laxus has intentions for a certain girl that are crystal clear to the rest of us. Sting, Rogue, even Cobra. It's sort of a skill that we have so other Slayers know if that person is spoken for already. That way, we can sort of knowledge that someone else has a 'claim' on them."

Gajeel paused before adding hastily; "I think I should clarify, it's not as if we treat them like property or something. It's sort of a respect thing. You know. but in every case I've heard of, Dragon Slayers and their mates end up together. It's just how it goes."

Gray nodded, understanding everything that was being thrown at him so far.

"Wait, Gajeel, I know you're like, obsessed with Levy-"

"I am not, what- what the hell are you talking about?" Gajeel spluttered. Gray paid him no mind, the rush of the Grand Magic Games, Natsu having a _really_ surprising romantic inclination towards a certain blonde, and then some thing about soul mates very fresh in his mind. he just kept talking and talking and _oh god why couldn't he just shut his mouth._

"-and Wendy has that thing with Romeo, though I didn't even need to say that because wow, that's obvious-"

"Hey! I'm still talking! And don't go spouting off things that aren't true!"

"-and I have absolutely no idea if Sting likes some girl or if he and Rogue have some 'boy's love' thing like that crap Juvia's always going on about-"

"Would you just listen to me?"

"-and Erik has that thing for Kianna because she was his snake and all, and dude that's some weird shit right there I don't even know-"

"Gray. Chill."

"-But _Laxus?_ As in, our Laxus? With some girl? As in, a _female?_ " Gray stressed, very careful to get the whole 'girl' thing across. "As in a person with a vag-"

"Yes, Gray! A girl! With, you know... _girl parts,_ " Gajeel stumbled clumsily through the last part, all the exposed skin from his chest to his hairline turning pink. Natsu himself was fidgeting in his seat. Very nervously, Gray noted suspiciously.

"...what's with the look," Gray asked, narrowing his eyes when they both continued to act strangely for a few seconds.

"Well, it's just that..." Natsu trailed off, looking at Gajeel for assistance.

"...if anyone asks, just... just don't let anyone know we told you that Laxus likes someone, okay? I just- I'd _really_ like to not die this early."

"Anyway," Natsu said, not-so-subtly sliding the conversation to the previous discussion. "Wait, what was it you were saying about half the guild earlier?" Gray swallow, thinking a) maybe he should learn how to get his rambling under control and b) maybe he wasn't the best one to explain the speculations to Natsu.

"Umm... I didn't mean-"

"Too late to go back now, stripper. I gotta say, I'm interested in what you have to say," Gajeel said, leaning forwards.

"Well, the thing is... I mean, I knew it wasn't true, and some of them think it's totally ridiculous-"

"Gray," Natsu's voice was warning.

"And she totally knows you don't think of her that way and besides she's into someone else now-"

" _Gray._ "

"And I swear, I-"

" _GRAY."_

He gulped. Sighing once he realized Natsu wasn't going to let it go, as well as the fact that Natsu would be very, very upset when he found out that even Lucy had believed the rumor, Gray slouched in his chair. Suddenly very interested with his nails, Gray's voice was low and almost... ashamed.

"See the thing is... the guild thinks you're in love with Lisanna."

* * *

Grumbling, his hair in disarray and his jacket having been discarded somewhere along the course of the last couple hours, Loke gradually came into view, Aquarius in tow. He gave Virgo a disgruntled look as a greeting, which wasn't surprising, given the state he was in.

Behind Aquarius was a trail of spirits, first the rest of the Golden Keys, and then the few Silvers Lucy had owned.

Nikola was nestled in the arms of the rather... emotionally unstable mermaid. Shivering (though, Virgo wasn't sure if it was because he was cold, or the fact that Plue was _always_ shivering), the little 'dog' was clinging to Aquarius like she was his life line.

Loke, noticing the emotions flitting across her face, gathered Plue in his arms, and deposited him onto the back of none other than Sagittarius. The two shared a look, Loke grateful and the man-horse understanding. Through the blue tint of his glasses, Sagittarius could see the raw grief in his eyes. He himself was upset, but Loke... Loke and Lucy had been friends, closer than most of them had been.

And he didn't even want to start on Aquarius. She and Lucy had been together for _years,_ and while they didn't always get along... They were essentially family. Especially with Aquarius having been passed down from her mother and all. She was Lucy's first friend, Lucy having been cooped up in the mansion for most of her life before Fairy Tail.

It was hard to watch, for all of it to unfold around him.

Loke, finally satisfied that Plue wasn't going to fall the minute he turned his back, spun around to give Virgo a look. Frowning at her, he peered at her over the rims of his glasses.

"Virgo, you'd better have a damn good reason for this. Unless Yukino's life is in danger at this very moment, or Fairy Tail has suddenly been wiped of the face of the planet-" Loke's warning was cut off, a painful pang right over his heart having made him pause and grimace. "This had better be fucking important."

Aquarius simply stood (well, she wasn't really standing because she doesn't have legs so more like... hovering?) there, her face stony. Capricorn, who had originally been on of Layla's Spirits along with Aquarius, was wearing a similar expression.

"So..." Virgo began slowly, as she tilted her head up, craning her neck. While the others were confused to say the least by Virgo's strange behavior, they said nothing.

"I wanted to introduce you to someone," Virgo finally managed, her eyes glistening with... were those tears? From _Virgo?_

"Virgo, this really isn't the best time," Loke said as he stepped forward. Having taken her tears the wrong way, Loke's voice had taken on a hushed tone, the same one he'd been using on the others. But Virgo saw past all of that, and saw that while he put up a calm face, he was cracking a little bit with each passing hour.

"No, Loke, I'd say it's the perfect time," Virgo said, smiling. Steeping back and looking over his head, she smiled. Loke pivoted, eyes searching for the strange phenomenon that was making _Virgo_ of all people grin. Her wry smile was enough to stop him in his tracks, especially during this time for grieving. Squinting, he scanned the starry sky.

Nothing.

Virgo, on the other hand, cupped her hands around her mouth. The dark spot was far, far above them. But Lucy was a Spirit now, and should have no problem catching her words.

"Come say hello," Virgo called up, her voice flat as usual. The twinkle in her eyes remained; she did have a reputation to keep up after all. "They're waiting." She patiently continued to stare up, expectant.

"We've got a new comrade. A new Spirit," Virgo began to explain, as a shadow began to descend. Loke pursed his lips; she'd caught their attention. There hadn't been a new Spirit in a _very_ long time. In terms of human years, more than a few hundred. It had been so long ago, they themselves hadn't been around that long either. The memories from those days were fuzzy at best. "Her name is Andromeda. I assume you've heard the legend, in your three years spent in the human world." Loke nodded in response. "Well, it turns out, she'll be going to Yukino with the rest of us."

"Ah," Loke breathed, finally realizing what Virgo was trying to do. At least, what he _assumed_ she was trying to do.

 _She's trying to distract us._

He honestly had to applaud her. It wasn't ideal for the new Spirit, he would admit. But taking their minds off of things would probably help. A lot. A new friend would never, _ever_ replace Lucy, but it'd be nice to meet someone new. Especially someone they'd be working with for a very long time. And everyone was bound to be excited at the prospect of a new Spirit...

Too bad his theory was wrong.

Virgo stepped back abruptly, hands clasped behind her back.

And then an angel fell from the heavens, and slammed into the ground between the Lion and the Maiden.

* * *

Lucy could see the bright, vibrant speck of orange all the way below her. Among a cluster of what she could guess was the rest of her old Spirits, his head caught her eye first.

 _Loke._

Heart leaping at the prospect of seeing her old friend, Lucy suddenly dove, pulling her wings tight against her body. Plummeting towards the ground, Lucy smiled. The sensation of flying was something she'd never forget. (Not like she'd ever want to anyway.)

Quickly uprighting herself, she slammed into the ground. Landing in a crouch, she looked up to see a rather pleased Virgo. Flexing her wings, Lucy stood, brushing her dress off. As she shook her wings out, she grinned, completely at ease. When she tossed her hair back, it was easy to see why Lucy had been offered several modeling gigs during her time.

Loke had stumbled back and fallen straight on his butt, in his surprise at Lucy's sudden appearance. (Also, I think if a person came hurtling at you out of nowhere, stepping back is an appropriate reaction.)

"Princess," Virgo greeted, bowing.

"What?"

The voice was familiar.

Really.

Fucking.

Familiar.

Lucy turned, casually stretching her arms and rolling her neck as she did.

"Oh, Hey guys. What up?"

No one moved. They just stared. And continued to gape. Lucy, feeling self conscious, scratched her neck.

"...I've missed something, haven't I?"

Virgo then stepped forward, leaning in to whisper something in Lucy's ear.

"Yeah, I- Huh? They didn't- Oh. _Oh_ ," Lucy said, eyes going wide. Now thoroughly embarrassed, she nervously fiddled with her hands.

"So guys, uh... I'm not dead?"

And then it all went south from there.

* * *

 **So... How was it? Halfway decent at least?** **Okayish?**

 **-Pyro**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

* * *

Natsu cocked his head to the side, squinting his eyes at the shirtless (though, Gray would later claim he had _no_ idea how that came to be) Ice Mage.

"Eh?"

Gray groaned, hands going up to scratch his head. Tugging at his hair, Gray was irritated with himself just thinking about it. There had been so many signs, not just about Natsu liking Lucy but also for Lisanna and Natsu being strictly platonic. Gajeel was clearly astounded at how oblivious the Guild could be at times.

"Wait..." Pieces were clicking together and the gears were turning in Natsu's mind. "You don't mean..."

Gray nodded sullenly, flinching already. God, this was _so_ _embarrassing_ now that he was thinking about all the signs that very clearly stated that Natsu held nothing but brotherly affection for the youngest Strauss sibling.

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah."

"BUT ME AND LISANNA WOULD NEVER-"

"Uh huh."

"WHY WOULD YOU EVEN-"

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW!" Gray suddenly burst, trying not to succumb to the urge to hit something. "I mean if you looked, if you _really_ looked at it you'd realize that there was no way in hell that you'd ever have liked Lisanna in _that way_ but when you were little everyone just assumed- well the assumed when she came back you'd still-"

"Still?"

"Well we were all wrong about that too, if it's any consolation."

"Wait," Natsu stopped, trying to focus on one thought first. When it was clear that he was trying to fight through _many_ different emotions and needed a moment, Gajeel intervened with a few questions of his own. One thing that Gajeel, and Natsu as well actually, was surprised about more than almost anything was the fact that: he'd never heard this rumor before. They were Dragon Slayers, for God's sake, with superior hearing. Whispers, secrets and gossip were something that, while they didn't usually indulge in, they were very aware of.

And the thing was, Gajeel would bet that Laxus, Wendy, or even Erik had never heard of the false information being passed around either. Mates were a sacred thing, and miscommunications that could lead to one losing a mate was something very serious. It was a sort of code, and honor-bound thing that just went without saying. They would help in any way they could because losing a mate was something that's a pain worse than death.

Funny, how all of them had been kept in the dark about this.

"How come none of the Dragon Slayers knew about this?"

Gray blinked.

Ah.

"Well... See, the rumor isn't talked about that much anymore, especially around certain members. We're very... careful. Only the people who've been around for a while know about it. New members wouldn't know. And even then, we don't really _say_ anything anymore. And Erik's not really around enough to catch anything we could have thought around him. Most of the time, it'd just be you and Lisanna doing something, and a certain gesture or phrase could be interpreted romantically. Then looks would be exchanged, maybe a few knowing smiles, but... I dunno, I guess we figured it was good o be careful."

Gray paused before deciding whether or not Lucy would want him to continue.

"But we don't really do that anymore. Just in case... well, just in case Lucy saw."

 _Wait._

 _Huh?_

Gray was suddenly fidgeting in his seat, wondering if Lucy could somehow come back and murder him from beyond the grave. Oh man... she would _kill_ him if she could right now.

But then again, Lucy was... Lucy was _dead_. (Gray swallowed roughly, the death still too fresh an overwhelming for him to truly grasp at. Soon, maybe very soon in the future, but not yet.) Lucy's gone and Natsu deserved at least this much. He carried a burden far heavier than anyone else, and whether this would lighten the load, or make it worse, Gray didn't know. But...

Better from him than someone else.

"Lucy... Lucy was really sensitive about it," Gray finally said, after working up the nerve to speak.

Natsu and Gajeel were both silent, drinking in every word that escaped his lips.

"I mean, she didn't ever say anything about it. But you could tell. She just... Don't get me wrong, she loved Lisanna. She was one of the sisters that Lucy never had while she was growing up. But... Lucy loved you too, Natsu."

Gray didn't even pause, knowing that if he stopped he'd never get to finish the rest of this.

"Every time someone even mentioned it, Lucy's face would just fall and she looked... she just looked so _sad_. Mentioning it, or even being around while someone else mentioned it was like kicking a puppy. You'd just peek out of the corner of your eye, and you'd see her, looking so lost and miserable and just _heartbroken._ But then you'd turn to face her and she'd slap that smile of hers on and pretend like nothing happened."

Pause. Breathe. Continue.

"Eventually, we just stopped passing the looks around her period. Just in case she saw. But she knew. Because Lucy was always too smart for her own good."

Gray stood, looking down at Natsu. Eyes wide and hands trembling, he'd turned paper white in a matter of seconds. All because of Gray and his big mouth. Gray didn't regret it though. Natsu had deserved to know. Just as Lucy had deserved to know about Natsu. At least now, one of them had learned the truth.

"But she wanted you to be happy, Natsu. She wanted you to fall in love and have kids and make a future. Lucy was selfless. She died selflessly, because Lucy could never just stand and watch someone else suffer."

"Not unless it was herself," Gajeel said quietly. "Blondie would rather die than let someone harm one of us; one of Fairy Tail."

Natsu was just openly crying now, tears soundlessly streaming down his cheeks.

"And she ended up doing just that," Gray softly added.

* * *

Lucy would later look back at this moment and wonder why she was such an idiot.

Loke just kinda stared at her, glasses crooked on his pale face, which was of course twisted with horror.

 _Well, shit._

 _I suppose I could've phrased that better. I wanted to be a writer, for Mavis' sake._

No one moved.

Not.

An.

Inch.

Her smile frozen awkwardly on her face, Lucy wasn't quite sure how to progress from here.

Lucy had been trained for years on the estate how to handle certain situations. For diplomatic purposes of course. That sort of thing was important for business relations. Her father had been grooming her, she would realize later, to become a negotiator and pacifist as well as an ally. Assessing situations and seeing the best option was a skill she had developed rather well.

Her classes and lessons, however had not prepared her for a situation even slightly useful in this case.

Her resolve wavering for the slightest of moments, Lucy straightened her wings and knelt next to her beloved Lion. Reaching her hand out, Lucy looked radiant. Loke blinked up at her, and in any other situations, Lucy would've laughed at his expression.

Not this time though.

Sighing, Virgo rolled her eyes.

 _We're getting nowhere here._

"Hey," Lucy said, flashing that smile that was just so _Lucy_ there wasn't any doubt that this was her. "Miss me?"

She half expected him to scramble away and continue staring at her like she was the subject of his worst nightmares. To say she was relieved when he didn't do either of those would be an understatement.

Aquarius, on the other hand, who had been slipping even before Lucy's sudden arrival, was about three seconds from losing her cool completely.

 _One._

 _Two._

 _Three._

Have you ever heard that saying? You know the one. Even the toughest guy is completely useless in any equation with either of these two elements: periods, and crying females. While it may be sexist, and a gender stereotype that has been proven to be false in many cases...

This was not one of those cases.

(Guess which element had every male in the vicinity panicking? I'll give you a hint; this one doesn't involve blood. Hormones, yes. Mother Nature rearing her ugly head as scheduled... not so much.)

And then Loke was clinging to her leg as if to make sure a) that she was real and b) she wouldn't just disappear if he looked away for a second. Aquarius still just had her lips slightly parted, and her eyes wide. Very, very wide.

Virgo sighed.

It was going to be a _very_ long day.

* * *

Yukino stared at the ring of keys clasped in her fist, her knuckles white and her hand shaking.

Raising her eyes to meet the dark orbs peering intently, though not unkindly, into her own, Yukino swallowed roughly.

"I don't... I don't know, Rogue," she finally said. He nodded slowly, deep in thought, as if he'd ben expecting her answer.

"Honestly? I think... I mean, I don't think _any_ of the teams are ready. Fairy Tail especially. For god's sake, we're _all_ pretty rattled. It's not often that a Guild, especially one of Fiore's strongest, loses a member. I just... I never thought it was possible, you know?" Yukino said with a sigh. "Even Asuka, the little girl... We all just think they're invincible. Whenever they get hit hard enough for it to hurt them... They just hit back harder."

Leaning back, Yukino stared off at the waves slowly washing over the shore.

Sitting at a bench by the water, Yukino was glad that Rogue was there to keep her company.

Otherwise... well, she wasn't sure what she'd do.

She and Lucy had been pretty close. They'd send letters as often as they could between jobs; and met up at least once a month. Usually Yukino had gone to the Fairy Tail Guild Hall, so she could see everyone else in one trip. Even Levy, the blue haired girl, had become a great friend.

And then one day Dragon Slayers had come up in conversation.

Yukino relaxed on the bench, feeling the memories pulling at the corners of her mind. Sighing and leaning back, she succumbed, and let herself get swept away.

* * *

 _"What do you mean, 'mates?'" Yukino asked, her eyebrows rising with each syllable._

 _Sitting in a small restaurant maybe five minutes away from the Sabertooth Guild Hall, Levy, Lucy and Yukino were all huddled around the small circular table._

 _"Dragon Slayers are mated for life," Levy said, casting a nervous glance at Lucy, who had instantly gone very quite. "They find one person for the rest of their life, and that's pretty much it for them."_

 _Yukino, feeling her heart deflate at this news, knowing her chances were slimming by the minute, slumped._

 _"Oh."_

 _"And Dragon Slayers... they know. Who their mate is, I mean. Very early on, they'll be able to tell. Most of the time."_

 _"...you like Natsu, don't you Lucy?" Yukino asked_ _quietly. Lucy, not surprised that Yukino had been able to pick up on it so quickly, nodded. "So what's the problem?"_

 _"Natsu already found his mate," Lucy admitted. "At least, from what I've seen and heard."_

 _"Lucy... Are you sure-"_

 _Yukino wasn't even sure how she'd feel in Lucy's shoes. To want something so bad, but all the while knowing it wasn't meant for you. And you'd just have to sacrifice it, if you_ _really loved it enough. Ever hear that expression: if you really love something, let it go, if it's meant to be, it'll come back?_

 _It was hard to imagine, the amount of strength it would take to give something up and have a broken heart on the sidelines._

 _"It's okay," Lucy reassured, though her aching heart told her otherwise. "I'll just... I'm working on it, alright?"_

 _Yukino respectfully nodded, knowing that Lucy was probably in enough pain as it was. (Even though she didn't believe a single word she said.)_

 _"And you, Yukino? You seem awfully interested in the whole 'mates' thing..." Levy said with a suggestive nudge to her elbow. Sighing, she uprighted herself in her chair._

 _"Yeah but... I think he likes someone else," Yukino answered._

 _"I'm sure that not true, Yukino. I'm sure-"_

 _"I'm pretty sure Sting had a thing for Minerva," Yukino suddenly blurted. "Besides- you said he wouldn have known early on, right? We've known each other for_ years _and..."_

 _The table went silent._

 _And then both Lucy and Levy burst out laughing._

 _"Minerva? You gotta be kidding me, Yukino. Dear Mavis, I thought you were smarter than that," Levy said, still giggling. "I mean, I know they were rather close and all, but they aren't, they aren't mates," Levy struggled to get out as she panted for air."And Minerva's not even around anymore. Sting would be just a big ball of depression and emotions if she were his mate."_

 _Yukino raised an eyebrow at the blue haired Script Mage, praying with every fiber of her being that Levy was telling the truth._

 _"Oh? And how would you know that? Seems to me you've done quite a bit of research on the subject..." It was Yukino's turn to trail off suggestively, prodding her with her elbow. Levy squeaked indignantly, her doe eyes bulging and spine stiffening. As is she'd been electrified, Levy jerked in her seat, jostling the entire freaking table._

 _"What?! No, no, I was just curious and I-"_

 _"Save it," Yukino said with a laugh. "It's cute. I'm sure he'll appreciate the effort when he finds out."_

 _"WHAT?! No, you can't tell him! I mean- er, I-"_

 _"Don't sweat it Lev, you know we're just kidding," Lucy interjected with an easy smile. (Both her friends gave an internal sigh of relief when it was apparent that Lucy had returned to normal. It was unnerving, how quickly emotions could flit across her face and disappear. You never knew if you were seeing a mask that she'd put on, or the real deal._ _)_

 _And later that very same day, when Yukino would hear Sting talking to his twin about him making a long-awaited move on his mate, she'd sink to the ground in tears, and finally understand how Lucy felt._

* * *

The crack in her heart was getting deeper and deeper by the day, Yukino had noted idly as she watched the clouds pass overhead. Rogue was watching her from the side idly, intrigued.

He was actually glad when a rather concerned Sting had come to him, practically begging him to keep and eye on Yukino. His blonde hair had been sticking up in many directions, as if he'd been running his hands through it over and over.

 _"Rogue, please, I need to ask a favor from you," Sting said as he sank down into his chair. Rogue waited, expectant. Sting was quiet for a little while._

 _"Please follow Yukino around," Sting suddenly blurted, wringing his hands. Rogue stifled the strangled laugh that threatened to escape his mouth by clearing his throat._

 _As Master, he was technically responsible for all the Guild Members, but Rogue had a sneaking suspicion that this went a little bit beyond that. (He found this rather amusing, to watch his '_ _twin' who had been so cool-headed all his life, finally become a nervous wreck. It was fucking hilarious.)_

 _"I'm afraid I'm going to need a bit more context than that," Rogue finally managed, still trying to regain his composure, guffawing. Trying, and failing, to get it together, Rogue was snickering in a very un-Rogue-like manner. Wiping away a tear, Rogue turned to face his rather miffed best friend._

 _"I'm... I'm worried about her," Sting admitted. Finding this to be an acceptable answer, Rogue sighed and stood, nodding his head._

 _"Alright."_

 _Turning on his heel to go find the Celestial Mage, Rogue was muttering under his breath._

 _"I swear if you're just living vicariously as her stalker through me-"_

 _"I AM NOT!"_

 _Rogue snickered once more, rather pleased at the strange looks Sting was_ _receiving at his sudden outbusrt._

 _Ah. It was a good day indeed._

* * *

Aquarius did, in fact, have emotions. Quite a discovery to all those who knew her. (I'm just kidding.)

 _(Not really.)_

If Loke had to pick which was more surprising, the fact that Lucy hadn't actually died won.

But not by much.

(Well, that might have been a bit of an exaggeration. But my point still stands.)

Loke, with tears in his eyes, tackled Lucy in a hug.

"Lucy!" he exclaimed, suddenly tackling her in a giant hug. "Lucy!"

And suddenly all her old Spirits were joining the hug, and Aquarius was swept up in the massive crowd. The current, so to speak, pushed her forward, and suddenly it was her and Lucy, or rather, Andromeda, face to face. The corner of her mouth just barely curving up to form some kind of resemblance to a smile, Aquarius, swung her arms out, capturing her head and enveloping it in a hug, which led to the rest of her body following suit.

"I missed you, little girl," Aquarius managed.

And so she had. Though, she wouldn't have to any longer.

In fact... perhaps they'd never have to say goodbye again.

* * *

 **Thank you so much. This was an amazing experience, and I really, _really,_ am grateful to have been able to meet so many amazing people while working on this story. I know you were probably expecting a better ending from me, and were a little let down earlier when you read what my original plan was. And for that, I am so, so very sorry. I know I should have updated sooner, but I just... Well, it hardly matters now, does it? **

**Thank you, for reading Constellations by asian anonymous. It meant a lot to me.**

 **-Pyro**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Thank you.**

 **All of you.**

 **Thank you.**

 **I know the ending's been ruined now. And for that, I am truly sorry. But you all told me, through wonderful, amazingly sweet words, that the journey is the important part. You all liked this story. You actually liked it. And I... I think I just love you all even more for that.**

 **Have I ever mentioned that I love birthdays? Birthdays, Christmas, even Valentine's Day. Because I love the excuse to give people presents. I love watching their faces and seeing their whole body just become electrified with excitement. Surprising people with gestures... It's rather fun, isn't it?**

 **And so, because I** **love you all, I've been thinking of how to maybe do something kind for all of you. And this... this was my best solution.**

 **Constellations will not die here. It can't. I hate leaving things without finishing what I started.**

 **And though I can't see your faces, or hear your voices, I have always been able to feel the kind things you've had to say about me and my story.**

 **I haven't been able to put my usual specific, proper thank-you's in the ANs in the beginning of the past two chapters. That stops now. I owe so many people a proper thank you, and I'm sorry that I will not be able to go back and than everyone I didn't properly address in the beginning of Chapter 4.**

 **So, if you are reading this, I'm sorry for this rather long chapter, that is mostly comprised of my gratitude for all of you. I'sorry I wasn't able to write back to everyone who left me an amazingly thoughtful review, but I promise I tried to at least mention everyone who supported me. And so, I present to you, the reasons I continue to write this story:**

 **iliketrains33**

 **MidnightGrasshopper**

 **Amari Mizuki**

 **Daniyia87**

 **6raindog**

 **xdtyr8**

 **Mini jo**

 **warriormaiden52**

 **felic42- that you for the kind offer. I'll be sure to keep that in mind.**

 **YouCanCallMeSister**

 **Amelia0902**

 **IdentityCrisis. 03**

 **Yuraookami**

 **armygal**

 **MusicalDays**

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 **kittyinabubble- dude, I'm SO sorry that this site's PM setup doesn't let you paste pictures in. I'm not sure if you're still doing it, but I'd _love_ to see what you've created!**

 **bellazurin**

 **JcL107**

 **sama775**

 **bleachTG. GC**

 **huert018**

 **Whatstoknow**

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 **Thegirlwonder09- Yo. I'm glad you believe this to be not terrible, and I promise, I don't think anyone will kill you for saying your honest** **opinion. (At least, not the decent people in the fandom.) Personally, I am more fond of Gruvia, (I am _not_ hating on your ship, I _promise_ ), and I _know_ I wouldn't be able to convincingly write that ship. But thank you, for your suggestion. **

**maidenoftheluminousrapture- dude. Wow. You guys are just really good at predicting the future of this story, aren't you? I honestly hadn't decided yet, but I was thinking about it... Tell me what you all think of her idea in the reviews, would you?**

 **Shadowhunterchronicleslover13**

 **OMGShamrock123- Well, I won't stop, and I'm so glad you believe the journey is the important part.**

 **Jozanimelover**

 **Titan O' Chocolate**

 **wishyouweremedontya- thank you. You honestly, made me feel great when I read the kind things you had to say about this fic.**

 **BaconDaUnicorn**

 **Fall3nSt4rr567**

 **Shamrock0311**

 **Cries of the Damned**

 **DystopianKitKat**

 **marissa4ever**

 **phoenixflamemarauder**

 **Lucy Goddess of the Stars**

 **EchizenRyoma**

 **Rekunae**

 **StormyKnight39- Thank you, for encouraging me to take pride in this... amazing community that I've created. All of you... I am proud to have created something that led me to all of you. I treasure all of you, and all that you have to say.**

 **petpermint**

 **HazelDragonNora**

 **Grin like the Cheshire Cat**

 **samurai of sunflowers**

 **serioushugsies- Thank you, for taking the time and effort to really try and lift my spirits.**

 **ShugoYuuki123**

 **singer321**

 **AprilJane01- Well, good news, I have taken you pronoun into account and well, I hope you continue to like this story as I continue to write it.**

 **TezlaPanda**

 **104688**

 **panickingathogwarts**

 **mkben**

 **Empress of Everything- Wow. Thank you. So, _so_ much. (Also, long time no talk, what's up?) And I promise, I'm not even close to being done writing. No way in hell. While you love my story, I love your reviews. I hope I can keep the cycle going. **

**Johnny Spectre**

 **Tawny**

 **DonutSenpai**

 **Ms. CookieSmuggler- Hey! Dude, I missed you! Where have you been? And I checked out your song** **recommendations. Good taste dude. (Oh and for anyone who was curious, I'm a girl. Just for future reference.) Thank you, for wanting to get everyone reading to make me feel better. It made me happy.**

 **Skyline179**

 **Koko**

 **Anon for Now- that's the thing. This, all of it, _is_ worth it if at least one person loves it. And I am thrilled that I've found that certainly have more than one reader who wants this to carry on.**

 **Lisa- OTP justice... I like the phrase. I think every fic writer should stick to that policy.**

 **FinnytheFirst**

 **KoolBrunette06**

 **nerdcandy- well, I _promise_ that I'll finish this story now. I _will not_ disappoint all of you, who are clearly the kindest, and most thoughtful people on the whole goddamned planet. I'm SO SORRY I made you so sad, and I promise, I won't do it again. (Unless, of course it's happy tears or an angsty scene *hint hint*)**

 **Mini jo**

 **JacklyinKarst**

 **tokonee**

 **rnssupergirl**

 **Catherine Uslexar**

 **Darthtraytus**

 **CrimsonLightKey**

 **buttercuprocks101**

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 **Serene Serious**

 **SkaianDragonSlayer**

 **the-clumsy-one - Aww, thank you! Your note was so sweet! (Oh and about your** **username, I have the same problem...)**

 **And I'm not sure why I have to keep saying it, for heaven's sake, but the guests... Please leave a name. I can't give you a proper thank you if I don't know who you are.**

 **Wow. That was... a REALLY long AN. Sorry, but I just thought you all deserved to be mentioned for the great things you said and did.**

 **Well, below, is the product of all of you being amazing individuals. Hope you like it!**

* * *

Something was wrong with Yukino, Sting realized almost immediately.

It wasn't just the obvious thing, about her still mourning Lucy's death. He knew sadness. And he knew, despite the fact that she was still sad, she was getting better. She was living proudly for her friend. And though she'd never forget her, she'd move on, carrying the memory of her friend with her as time passed.

Yukino was going to be okay. But...

Why did she seem to be avoiding him?

Since that day, in the Fairy Tail Guild Hall, she wouldn't even look at him, not a single damn word.

It was stressing him out.

He was going crazy, trying to figure out if it was all in his head.

Maybe he was just overreacting. Maybe she was still just trying to deal with all of her emotions, and she needed some space to do that effectively.

But then why was she still with Rogue every _goddamned minute_ of the day!?

No, she was avoiding him. Definitely.

But he didn't know _why._

Maybe he'd done something...? Maybe he had offended her in some way without meaning to? Perhaps he somehow reminded her of Lucy, with the blonde hair and everything...? (He knew it was stupid and probably completely off, but he was running out of ideas at this point. He was desperate.)

And then he'd heard her sniffling that one night, as he'd dropped by her apartment to check on her, and he'd found her crying not over just Lucy, but _himself_ as well...

 _He heard the sobbing before his hand even touched her doorknob._

 _The door to apartment had been left slightly open, letting the cries from her bedroom float out into the open hallway._

 _Even if he hadn't possessed superior hearing, Sting would have picked up the small hiccups and whimpers._

 _Stepping inside silently, Sting closed the door behind him as he ducked around the corner. He knew the layout of her house by now (get your head out of the goddamned gutter; they hung out a lot, especially when he was hungry and she'd cook dinner for both of them), and though it was pretty late already and the lights were out, Sting knew exactly where he was going. (That, and superior senses, remember? Dragon Slayers can probably see in the dark or some super-human shit like that.)_

 _Concern flooding his entire body, Sting had instantly been on red alert, and now he dashed as quickly and quietly he could. (The first scenario that had popped into his mind was a hostage situation; Yukino was a capable Mage, she would have probably kicked an intruder's ass unless they had gotten the jump on her.)_

 _What is she was injured? Or bleeding? Or being held captive with a bandit's gun held to her head an oh go he was starting to panic-_

 _Until he heard her trembling voice._

 _Oh._

 _So, she wasn't being attacked. That was good. Kind of._

 _"Lucy," she said first, her wavering voice making the room feel much, much colder. With every light off, and the windows open, her house could have passed as abandoned, as if she hadn't been home in years. But Sting's ears and nose told him otherwise, and he could just..._ _feel it, as weird as that_ _might sound._

 _He wondered if this intuition would grow stronger when their souls were officially tethered._

 _You know, if she by some miracle actually accepted._

 _Just thinking about it was stressing him out, anxiety and adrenaline forming a dangerous mix within him._

 _Shaking his head, Sting cleared his_ _thoughts. Yukino's window was even open, letting cool air fill her room. The moon was pale and shining, a huge orb throwing light onto Yukino's defeated form. She was folding in on herself, clutching at her chest like she was..._

 _Almost like she was trying to rip her heart out._

 _God, she was in **pain**_ **.**

 _She was writhing on the floor, tangled in her sheets. Her breathing was labored, and by the light of the moon, Sting could see her chest rising and falling irregularly, as she struggled to take in_ _oxygen. Her hair was messy, but that didn't make her look any less... amazing in his eyes. Any less beautiful._

 _His heart rate was elevating just looking at her, as he heard a sharp cry resonate through the room. He stepped forward, his instinct screaming for him to just swoop in and take her in his arms and shush her, rocking her until she calmed down-_

 _But then she whispered his name, so brokenly and hopelessly that he was sure he'd imagined it._

 _Said Dragon Slayer froze. it was a mistake. it had to be a mistake beach there was no reason as to why Yukino would-_

 _But the she said it again._

 _"Sting," she repeated. She hiccuped, and if he didn't know better, he might have assumed she was drunk. But Yukino didn't do wasted (at least to his knowledge) and he couldn't smell alcohol on her breath. She just smelled... like herself. (And believe me, he knew what Yukino smelled like... They were teammates for god's sake jesus you guys have such dirty minds.) Her shoulders were shaking horrendously, as she tried to rise to her feet. Unsteadily, she wobbled towards her bed, failing halfway and just crumpling to the floor._

 _"Sting, why?" she sobbed._

 _Her heart was falling apart in her chest, and Yukino didn't know how to just make the hurt go_ _away..._

 _Clutching at her short hair, she sank to her knees. Burying her face into a pillow that had been haphazardly been strewn among other possessions on her floor, Yukino muffled her scream._

 _Standing, utterly confused and devastated at the same time, Sting just stood in the doorway, like an idiot._ _Man, looking back at it, he had been so fucking lucky that Yukino hadn't spotted him. that would have been... indescribably worse._ _W_ _ith another heart-wrenching noise resembling a shriek, Yukino dissolved into sobs._

 _And so, confused and scared and very concerned all at once, Sting did the one thing his Dragon Slayer mate instincts were telling him not to do._

 _He ran._

He'd called in Rogue to get some perspective. Rogue of course, had been utterly baffled as to why their friend had been crying, over his _'twin'_ no less.

He was well aware of Sting's affections, even without him confessing several weeks ago. Sheepishly, Sting had told him that he was pretty sure, rather, he was _certain_ that he'd found his mate. He'd been confused for ages, Rogue honestly found it ridiculous, about whether or not it was Yukino.

It wasn't... it wasn't the most ridiculous notion in the world. Sometimes, you wouldn't just instantaneously know someone was your mate. And Sting... Sting seemed to almost _not_ want Yukino to be the one.

 _"She just... She deserves better," was his lame excuse. "I mean, we were such jerks to her back then, mostly me, and I don't... I don't know if- I don't think I deserve her after that."_

Of course, after that being said, there was no more debate that Yukino was the one. Rogue argued this point to his partner, and Sting groaned.

Rogue had agreed to keeping an eye on her Of course, not until after he'd accused Sting of being her stalker. Which had led to some _very_ concerned (for Yukino's sake) Guild mates approaching the Dragon Slayer.

Terrified.

Sting was terrified.

Had he... had he really hurt her so badly? And how?

Now, sitting at his desk, Sting had never been so glad his own office. The rest of the Guild really didn't need to see him have a meltdown. Well... not a 'meltdown' per se.

The Guild Mater of Sabertooth, Legendary Light Dragon Slayer, Sting Eucliffe, was mentally running through every single interaction between them prior to Yukino's sudden change in behavior. He was aware that he probably looked nuts, his eyes wide and frantic. And to be quite frank, he didn't care in the slightest.

 _Maybe I offended her? Did I do something? Maybe I hurt her unintentionally. Or-_

Sting's paranoid trail of thoughts was abruptly cut off, when someone knocked at his office door. Straightening his posture, and smoothing down his hair, Sting fought down all of his conflicted emotions and replied with a dignified "Come in."

It was Rufus.

"Master?" He inquired, respectful as ever. Sting sighed.

"How many times will I have tell you, just go on calling me Sting."

"Very well, _Master_ Sting," Rufus responded, his voice laced with humor. It was no secret that Sting _hated_ being being called Master. He thought it made him sound all stuffy, as if he was acting like he was a superior. The way Jiemma had treated everyone. (He'd been reassured by many people that he was _nothing_ like their old, abusive Master. But even then... he still felt like he was filling a position meant for someone with much greater abilities.)

Rolling his eyes at his childish attempt to get a reaction out of him (although it had worked), Sting cracked his neck. Though, Rufus didn't miss the way the corners of his mouth curved up slightly.

"I'm sorry, but did you need something?" Sting finally asked as Rufus gave him an amused look.

"The team roster is due soon. We need to know what the official team will be. Five people per team this year, and one back up."

"Ah. Right." Sting rubbed his temple. Just one more thing to think about.

If he had to guess, the hardest part of the whole thing this year, for _any_ of the guilds, was going to be facing Fairy Tail. Natsu in particular. He himself hadn't seen Natsu since that day at Lucy's funeral. After that, all he had to go on that the other Dragon Slayer was still even in Fiore was the occasional tale of him beating the crap out of someone or something on a job. (He didn't doubt the rumors. From personal experience, he knew that people with extreme emotions always fought much harder.)

"Great."

Fucking. Great.

* * *

Erza Scarlet.

One of Fairy Tail's strongest, undoubtedly. She had fiery red hair, and a glare that could stop someone cold in their tracks from the sheer intensity. On the battlefield, she was an unstoppable force that had earned her the title "Titania, Queen of the Fairies."

She also had a dead friend.

Which was something that she, among _many_ others, was not handling well.

Seated at the bar, she had her head hanging low, and her spirits even lower.

It was late. Or rather, almost really early, depending on how you looked at it. She and Mira remained silent and solemn, as the clock struck midnight.

Another day had passed; another day with Lucy dead and gone and buried down underground, in an over-glorified box. Another day, and Fairy Tail just wasn't getting better. They were trying; they were trying _so_ hard. Master Makarov didn't think he'd ever seen a group of people pour so much of their heart and soul into something.

But it killed him a little, to watch them rise higher and higher, in hopes of moving on, and then just plummet down to the ground. (Would it be immature to add 'just like Lucy' right here?)

They were getting nowhere. Every day, they were still just mourning their loss. And every time they seemed to be making some progress, something would set them off. Whether it was seeing yet another article honoring her and her bravery, or an old issue of Sorcerer Weekly with her plastered all across the cover turning up...

They were back at square one. But if all went well at the Grand Magic Games... Maybe they could make some actual progress. They wouldn't spend every waking moment missing her, or thinking about how she was encased in a coffin beneath the dirt, in the very same cemetery where Lisanna had been 'buried.'

If only they knew... If only they would dig up that stupid human-sized box and crack it wide open...

They'd see it was empty.

* * *

The blue feline hadn't seen Natsu for over a week.

Gray had told him about the events that had transpired int eh cafe, and Happy had sadly shaken his head, not having heard the rumors either. (Because they knew if Happy knew that Natsu would know and then something caught have happened between him and Lisanna. Which, would lead to a heartbroken Lucy... if they had been right with their hypothesis in the first place. Which, they hadn't been.)

Natsu had left on a mission straight after lunch. Something hours away, somewhere in a forest.

Gray supposed it was for the best, that he take it out one something far, _far_ away from any form of civilization.

And then the whole guild, of course, ad learned of this development, and the ones who had known about the rumor couldn't help but feel... guilty. Responsible. Maybe Lucy couldn't have been saved. But...

Maybe the two could have found happiness together before it all went south. Though, it was hard to decide, which scenario was worse. Natsu and Lucy, never having gotten together and them both secretly pining for each other or... they could have gotten tighter, officially become mates, and Natsu having to watch the girl he loved, who he also knew loved him with equal intensity, die.

It was hard to say.

Happy came home to Natsu draped rather ungracefully across their couch that night. His eyes were red and puffy, and for once, he seemed to be crying openly. (He'd been hiding in his room most of the times when he broke; he didn't want Happy to know. Though, he honestly wasn't fooling anyone.)

On the floor, was a duffel bag, clothes having been shoved in at random. (Really though, 'random clothes' meant several vests and pairs of pants in varying shades of navy blue and black.)

Ah. Right.

Th Grand Magic Games.

One week left.

Tick. Tock.

* * *

It was elegant, and it was beautiful.

It was golden, and it was intricate.

Her key.

It was something that she was strangely proud of, though she wasn't sure why.

Lucy had the tiny gold piece clasped in her hand, as the King gave the newborn Spirit her final instructions.

"-and as a former Celestial Mage, you should be familiar with all I've told you already," the King finally finished after his long speech. "But the last thing for you to do, is to finally pass your key on. I assume you remember what your old friend who you will sign a contract with looks like?"

Lucy nodded.

"And do you remember one of your old keys' energy?" Lucy nodded, recalling the sort of 'feel' each of her keys had.

"Well, this will save a lot of time then. Pick any one of them, and see if you can hone in on that energy. Not the energy that they themselves are radiating, but the magic released when the Gates are opened."

Shutting her eyes, Lucy did just that.

"As you know, the keys we leave in the Human World are our tethers between our worlds. It makes it possible for us to quickly move from one world to another when we've been summoned. The keys automatically hone in on our energy when commanded to by the key holder. This causes a link, and helps us figure out where we're supposed to go. Of course, eventually some Spirits don't need the key anymore to appear in the human world, but... It's best for beginners. Though, I have a feeling that you'll practically be an expert on this in no time, having vast experience in this area."

"So... What am I trying to do here?" Lucy asked, a clear image of Loke's key in her mind.

"Well, since you know what your old key's magical energy feels like, you're honing in on it's signal, and using it as a bridge. But it is your first time, so i wouldn't be surprised if it-"

Then the key vanished from Lucy's hand. They both blinked.

"Well then."

* * *

Glad that she wouldn't have to spend the entire train ride avoiding Sting, Yukino sighed as she glanced over at the two sleeping Dragon Slayers. They had both been violently ill the second they stepped onto the train. (Even though the train hadn't been _actually_ moving, which was something Yukino _still_ didn't understand.)

At first, she'd been contemplating all of the methods she'd have to resort to using to avoid her Guild Master. But then he'd gotten so woozy he'd passed out on the spot, taking an equally queasy Shadow Dragon Slayer down to the floor with him. (She didn't know how they did it; through pure coincidence, or sheer stupidity.)

Now seated in the train cart, Yukino looked over at her two motion-sick Dragon Slayers.

She looked at her watch, all of her nerves still tingling in anticipation.

 _Just a few more hours._

Taking out her keys, Yukino winced as the tinkling noise resonated through the car.

 _Please don't wake them up. Please..._ She thoughts, crossing her fingers. She waited a few seconds, before sighing and continuing.

(WARNING: Okay, because I'm epically unoriginal, I guess I'll just use the same Guilds as the first Grand Magic Games Fairy Tail competed in? I mean, it's really up to you guys, and I can change it later. But just so you know, the only Guilds I'll really be talking about, despite the other teams, are Sabertooth, Fairy Tail, Lamina Scale, and maybe _some_ Mermaid Heel and Blue Pegasus...? I dunno, but I am _not_ writing about Quarto Cerberus.)

 _Alright. So on the chance that I'm set against Lyon it would be pretty easy to first use Virgo and then..._ As Yukino trailed off, developing battle strategies for almost every member, from every guild in her mind, the sky outside darkened.

And then there was only Fairy Tail left.

There was no strategy to form, no tactics for prepare, not even a single scenario to run through. Because Yukino knew, no matter how much she prepared, she was _not_ going to be ready to face any of there members. No way in hell. There just... How could was she, how could _anybody_ for that matter, bring themselves to fight against someone who has already in so much pain?

This year was... definitely going to be interesting.

Yawning, Yukino stretched out her arms, and leaned against the window, already drifting away.

And at the very stroke of fucking midnight (because convenience), a burst of golden light filled the car. Then the key ring rose from her lap, so it was just parallel with the ground, each key equally distant from each other. Then each key slid closer together, creating a gap...

Just big enough for a new key to blink into existence, golden and radiant and beautiful, shining as if it were made of stardust.

Then the warm glow dissipated, leaving the car dark once more, with no trace.

Other than the key of Andromeda, hidden between the Lion and the Mermaid.

* * *

 **Hey guys.**

 **So, I know you all said you liked this story (for the most part) so far. But if there's _anything_ you think I need to change, let me know. Love you!**

 **-Pyro**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Read all the responses to reviews.**

 **Some of them are important.**

 **So, just a heads up, there's a little Minerva-bashing in this chapter a) because it fits and b) because I personally dislike her. Also, there's a lot of Sting x Yukino in this one, just because I haven't been able to write any angsty stuff for Natsu x Lucy. Sorry to disappoint.**

 **Anyway, first I owe a huge thanks to:**

 **SchoolGirlOtaku**

 **PiruriaReina**

 **TheTardisAndHerDoctor7**

 **EmmaWatson123**

 **Luna Silverlily**

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 **Kate. R12- I'm glad you think that.**

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 **IbeWildBella- NO PLEASE DON'T HATE YOURSELF IT'S OKAY (though i will say I do live for reviews like yours.) Thank you, for the really great things you had to say.**

 **Ms. CookieSmuggler- Dude. We're literally twins. That's what I do when a fic I follow is updated.I'm glad that you're happy about this story continuing! (Also, good intuition there. I guess I go a little too in depth with the feels stuff to sound like a dude.)**

 **kittyinabubble- I PROMISE I won't stop until the story's finished!**

 **OMGShamrock- I know! I'm excited too! (Unfortunately, that was a bit of a stretch from the last chapter to this one, so I'm thinking not next chapter, but the one after that is when Andromeda comes out...? Don't know yet.)**

 **urban flora- Aww, thanks so much!**

 **Fanfic Devil- Yes, I realize those comments might amuse some people. Glad you're one of them**

 **Thegirlwonder09- of course I'm gonna shout out to you! I know I can't get an individual response to everyone, every week, but I'll be sure to at least mention _everyone_ who reviews! Glad I didn't offend you, I promise I didn't mean to.**

 **ShugoYuuki123- Yeah, I'm still working on the right moment for that to happen...**

 **AprilJane01- Dude, of course! I love letting all the people who read this story that I love them!**

 **marissa4ever- Wait. WAIT. I MIGHT DO THAT. Hold on... (Thanks, by the way. I was thinking about that, but I didn't know how you'd al fell about it...)**

 _ **EVERYONE READ THIS IT'S REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT:**_

 **How do you feel about Natsu going up against Yukino? And then, of course, Yukino's new Spirit?**

 **Johnny Spectre- Alright then. So, what competitions do you suggest?  
**

 **titaniazone- I know, I've been anticipating writing that since I started this story!**

 **LavenderMoonRose- See, that's what I thought. I mean, Yukino's giving him the cold shoulder, but at least she's, y'know, not dead.**

 **the-clumsy-one- (I know I've already said this before but dude, your name is actually my entire frickin being.) Don't worry, I'm definitely gonna finish this story, regardless of what anyone says.**

 **Empress of Everything- Before I respond , let me say: I actually get so excited when I see your reviews because they're so long and detailed and I _love_ that. Glad your squealing was kept to a minimum. (Don't want you destroying your vocal chords on my account.) Okay, so, I' gonna say Yukino's awake...? Sort of hazy and sleepy though, you know that phase when you're half asleep and just really out of it? Yeah, that. And I know! I hadn't really written about Erza _at_ _all_ this whole time! So I figured, I'd better mention her. And I know, Dragon Slayers are just... very special. You couldn't wait for this chapter? Well I'm anxiously awaiting your review!**

 **KittyCrow12- Ohhh, so _you're_ Anon for Now... Good to hear from you again. Well, thanks for urging me to keep writing!**

 **Irravanah- Wow. You guys sure have a thing for squealing, don't you?**

 **Celestialite- I'm so sorry! NaLu probably won't be seen so much until next time... I mean, other than him defending her honor in this chapter...**

 **nerdcandy- That's fine, but thank you for at least leaving a name so I can thank you!**

 **Compucles- See, this is _technically_ after the Tartaros Arc, but it's an AU so all of that stuff with Aquarius' key never happened. ****I _PROMISE_ the fluff is coming soon! (Just not this time. Sorry *gives a sheepish kind-of smile*)**

 **wishyouweremedontya- So, I kind of used to have an update schedule... But that's all gone straight out the window (High school sucks, by the way). I'll _try_ and update about every two weeks...**

 **Serene Serious- I** **know, I just felt like it was right for her key to be there...**

 **maidenoftheluminousrapture- Dude.**

 **DUDE.**

 **ARE YOU FREAKING-**

 **Let me calm down. (This isn't specifically about you, by the way. It's just been slowly grating on my nerves.)**

 **Okay so, since _EVERYONE_ who reads this fic seems to know where it's going, let's make a new rule: please don't make huge predictions in the reviews. Because now my job isn't any fun, because EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS HALF OF MY WHOLE PLOT LINE AND THERE'S NO POINT TO ME DOING THIS. **

**I'm not going to call anyone out, because I love you guys, and I don't really mind most predictions, but when half of my goddamned ENDING is suddenly out there I'm going to be kinda upset. At least let me have this, if _anything._ I am going to be less than happy, which I think is a given.**

 **You guys can just write it yourself, and this is just pointless. The surprise is half the fun, to keep you guys on your toes, but apparently since I'm not needed, I could just let you all take turns writing it in the reviews.**

* * *

There were so.

Many.

People.

Gajeel hated people. (Same...)

He hated people because they were bothersome and usually quite rude and the contrasting smells they gave off always made his head hurt. That, and more often than not, they had some biased opinion on him before he opened his goddamned mouth. He suspected it was the piercings.

But today, in this moment, none of those reasons were the cause of his current irritation. Those, those were just general reasons for disliking the majority of them. (Not to mention most of them were ridiculously unobservant. And really fricking fragile. Some people he assumed if he blew on them too hard, they'd shatter.)

He hated people, because they all seemed to be fixated on none other than Natsu Dragneel.

So... perhaps wasn't people.

Reporters.

Reporters were the ones that pissed him off.

There was no one who didn't recognize him. Not a single confused old lady, not a little kid hanging off of their mothers who didn't know the name. Or the face. Old pictures of him, most from the last Games, had been plastered everywhere, on newspapers or Magazines, or even on posters. The media was positively buzzing, but this time, ill intentions were mostly nowhere to be found.

Any reporter, every gossiping column and junk writer, _knew_ that the repercussions of trashing Lucy Heartfilia... Were bad. Really, really bad. Fairy Tail would be after their ass, Natsu Dragneel especially.

Her partner, her best friend, the one who was obviously, even in the eyes of the public, taking it the worst.

But no one moved an inch to interview anyone, Fairy Tail or not, on the subject of Lucy Heartfilia's death.

They did, however, stand like idiots, crowing silently not eh sidelines, to get a look at them.

Gajeel snorted.

Reporters.

What a load of crap.

* * *

Natsu was losing his patience.

Everything, _everything_ , no matter where he looked, screamed Lucy.

That stupid hotel where they had stayed the first time.

That godforsaken pub where they'd all watched Cana _finally_ get drunk off her ass.

The stupid shop where Lucy had stopped to buy a new hairbrush. (He may have accidentally obliterated the one she'd brought with her...)

He was losing his mind.

Really.

Even after his week-long mission, even after he'd allowed himself to wail at the top of his lungs in the middle of the forest, he still felt like crap.

 _He'd cried, like a baby, as he'd defeated that last monster with a mere two blows. He'd sunk to his knees and clutched at the dirt as he felt the absolute **agony** gnaw at his heart. Grief plucked his heart strings, and oh Mavis it hurt too much to even move._

 _The entire world around him blurred behind the tears, into one, great nothingness._

 _Each labored breath left him gasping each time, as every waking moment he'd ever spent with her run played on a continuos, torturous loop. One minute she was smiling at him, another she was affectionately ruffling his hair..._

 _And then the next minute, she was dead, in his arms, bloody and broken and **dead.**_

 _Natsu screamed, his eyes, dark and dangerous, flaring as he stared up at the sky, all the while cursing the universe and what it had done to his Lucy._

 _And then he dissolved into sobs and whimpers, collapsing on the forest floor._

And yet, after all of that... He didn't feel better. Not in the slightest. He would face a thousand enemies, and in his blind sorrow and grief and rage, he'd win. But if someone so much as whispered her name in his presence... He'd go to pieces like a shattered glass; splinter into pieces so unbelievably microscopic no one would ever be able to put him together again.

But the mask was one, and so far, the mask was holding.

He could do this. Not make a scene, not fall apart. Just until this was all over.

Until the mask came off, and only those close enough to see would notice, that he was already broken.

* * *

Yukino turned, and she saw.

The pink hair (even though, back when she was alive, he'd always protest that it was 'salmon') screamed for attention like a billboard, if the overwhelming crowds hadn't clued her in already.

She could feel Sting's eyes on her, as she moved forward to stand in front of the Fairy Tail's official team, led by none other than Erza Scarlet. Natsu stood in the middle, and it was clear that everyone was trying to keep Natsu away from the public. (For his own good, although not by his own request, Yukino assumed.) They were like a shield, on every side was was surrounded.

Erza smiled a little at the sight of Yukino, who she hadn't seen personally since... Well, since the funeral. Reaching out to shake her hand, Yukino worridely exchanged glances with the redhead at the Ice Mage to her left. Gray gave her a brief hug (after which Gajeel noticed Sting bared his teeth), before jerking his head towards Natsu.

Yukino slipped between the Requip Mage and the currently shirtless male to stand right in front of Natsu.

"...Hey."

All eyes were stuck on the pair, surprise heavy in the air.

Natsu had spoken first.

His hand came down to spin his wristband idly, as the look in his eyes softened.

Gray inhaled sharply.

It was the most positive emotion that anyone had seen from him in weeks. Hell, he barely even _spoke_ nowadays, having resorted to mostly nodding and shaking his head.

For a few moments Yukino was to stunned to speak. She regrouped quickly, smiling in return.

"Hey Natsu."

* * *

Yukino's keys jingled, and the familiar noise had Natsu cringing as they all went out to lunch.

The Dragon Slayers present immediately took notice of Sting's obvious change in regards to Yukino.

It was funny, how unaware she was.

He hovered protectively, always glancing out of the corner of his eye to make sure she wasn't injured (as if she couldn't handle someone coming at her nine times out of ten).

But the thing was, she was avoiding him. Most definitely avoiding him.

And he couldn't figure out _why_. Even Rogue hadn't the slightest clue as to why. Yukino was a reasonable girl. She didn't get mad over stupid things, if she had a problem with someone, she brought it to them. And they would work it out, because that was just how she was.

But Sting... Wow. She really hated him. Well...

Hate wasn't the right term.

Passive aggressively giving him the cold shoulder was more like it.

And honestly... though they did feel for him...

It was hilarious to watch.

Even Wendy, who had girl's intuition on her side, hadn't been able to pinpoint exactly why. (She did mention that she had a vague idea, but refused to say what it was until she was sure.) And no way in hell would Erik be or any help.

Erik had stopped snooping in other people's minds, once he'd been instructed to respect other people's boundaries by Makarov. And he wasn't about go and be selective about who he intruded upon.

Though he couldn't exactly turn it off, he could tune out the voices as best he could.

(Besides, he hadn't even come to the Games this year. Something about a month-long mission. That, and the very prospect of the thoughts of thousands of screaming fans seemed highly unappealing to him.)

* * *

 **(Just a warning guys, I won't be going very in-depth about the games, because I don't know what events to include... But I'll try my best.)**

The preliminaries were a joke.

Fairy Tail qualified without batting an eye.

It was a big structure, a castle almost, like the one Erza had fought in with the 100 monsters challenge. There were dark halls and long, spiraling staircases, with more twists and turns than one could count.

Oh.

And monsters.

The castle was full of monsters.

And guilds.

A great combination, no?

The way to qualify was to be one of the six five guilds to emerge from the huge, enormous structure that towered over the audience. There were six exits, and once a team had successfully passed through one, the exit was closed off.

Pretty simple, right?

You would think so.

But the castle was a maze, with traps and monsters and enemies.

And Masters.

A new rule had been made, or rather, an old one had been destroyed.

Guild Masters were eligible to compete this year (Sting had been relieved when he'd found out, having realized too late that he was technically Master now.) Those organizing the event figured there was no point, as there were members on certain teams who were more powerful than some masters.

Sabertooth hadn't even bothered using much magic to get out. When confronted by enemies, Rufus lazily overpowered them with a tip of his hat. Yukino stuck to moves she'd learned while still being a Sergeant. (Not sure if you remember that, but she was a Sergeant for a brief amount of time.)

Fairy Tail had Erza burning a trail through their enemies, with only her _normal_ armor on. Gray strolled along lazily, one hand in his pocket and him casually twirling an ice lance in the other. Natsu kept his head down, breathing in sharply through his nostrils, only had to give someone a scathing look and a growl to make them sprint in the other direction.

Once, he wouldn't have been so merciful. Once, with a smile on his face, he would have chased them down all in good spirit of the game. A friendly competition.

But now... Now there was no reason to win the competition. Because the whole reason he'd fought so hard was to do it with his nakama, to prove that his family was the best; the most amazing guild on the whole planet. But now a huge, gaping hole had been torn in the perfect picture of his family, leaving a big, empty void where Lucy Heartfilia had once been.

He didn't care if they won or not. Not really.

There were people in his guild that he still cared about. Undeniably. But Lucy... Lucy had been his frickin soul mate. No question about it. She was the goddamn sun he had been revolving around, and now she had suddenly vanished. His orbit had been disrupted; and now he was sent hurtling into nothingness.

And then his thoughts were interrupted by an irritatingly high (male) voice telling him to stop in his tracks. Juvia whirled, ready to finally get some exercise in. But she faltered when the next words came out of her mouth. They all stopped cold, as did everyone else who was close enough to hear.

"Stop right there! We've got you now, don't think we'll go easy on you out of pity! You're not as big and bad as you' think you are; your own guild members can't even take care of themselves!"

It was a low blow, the insignificant mage would realize later. His 'not-so-vague' shot at the golden girl hadn't gone unnoticed.

But now, the only thing he realized, as well as the rest of his team, was that it had been a very, _very_ bad news.

Natsu turned on his heel, in a manner the public had never seen. Dangerously, slowly-

Deadly.

And then they were all lined up, faces dark and seething and _furious._ Gajeel, Juvia, Erza and Gray. And the audience outside, spectating through the screens. All of Fairy Tail had gone

But Natsu was already blazing like the sun, his flames growing with his fury. He was front and center, in front of the rest of his team.

And then he glanced back, his eyes dark and frightening and absolutely _murderous._

"Mine," was all he said.

And then reluctantly, they relaxed their stances, and they stood down. They would let Natsu have this one. Though they were itching to hurt this stupid, horrible, disgusting _filth_ that had dared to utter a word against the girl they had all loved, they would let the man who had loved her most take care of it.

Because, now... with her gone... This might have been one of the last times in his lifetime, that Natsu would be given to the opportunity to defend Lucy Heartfilia.

So they would let him protect her.

One last time.

* * *

Meeting up that night, Fairy Tail and Sabertooth met up outside the hotel they both happened to be staying at.

Yukino was still seething.

They'd come out after Fairy Tail, and when they'd found out...

Yukino's vision had immediately been tinted red with rage, and Rogue had ended up stepping in to try and calm her down.

Tears of anger and frustration, not to mention sadness welling up in her eyes, Sting hadn't fell so... inadequately helpless in a long time. Yukino wouldn't even look at him on most days, and he just-

She wasn't the only one who was frustrated.

Because now his own friend/friend's _mate_ was dead, and all the memories had been dragged up to the surface, and his own mate seemed to despise his very being.

And god he... he just wanted to _hold her_ for fuck's sake. He wanted to kiss her and hug her and just _belong_ to her but but he _couldn't._ He was suppressing pent up confusion and feelings and... _urges_ because dammit the universe seemed to have a personal vendetta against him.

Of course, he knew Natsu's situation was worse. He couldn't very well complain when his mate; while not returning his feelings, was still alive.

And suddenly everyone's eyes were glassy, as memories of her dredged up in their minds and refused to be buried once again. Shadows cast across their faces, no one could bring themselves to speak. For a while.

But then Natsu rose from his seat on the stairs, his gaze steady. Though deflated, he seemed more stable and sure of himself than he'd been in a long time.

"What's done is done," he said eventually, surprising everyone.

"That guy was a real ass, but he was right."

Erza looked like she'd never seen this man in her life before.

"We couldn't even protect one of our own. We screwed up, and now she's dead. And there's absolutely no way to undo that. We _messed up,_ guys. Real bad," Natsu said, as if it hadn't been obvious enough already.

"We look like the most incompetent people on the planet," he said bluntly, surprising them all with both the idea and the fact that he'd used the word 'incompetent' correctly in a sentence.

"So I'm winning this one for Lucy."

They all noticed him roughly swallow after he choked out her name, though no one commented.

"So no one can bad mouth her, or us anymore."

He turned to face Sting, holding out his hand.

"Promise you won't hold back?" Natsu asked, raising an eyebrow at him. already knowing he'd been thinking of doing so. Sting grinned, his canines showing.

"Damn, you caught me."

Reluctantly, he took Natsu's hand.

"Deal."

* * *

Nervously, Lucy flexed her wings. Her fists were raised in some half-hearted fighting stance, and she seemed more amused than serious. Loke rolled his eyes, though a light smile played at his lips. Overly dramatic as he sighed, he nodded at Aquarius, who was currently in the ring with 'Andromeda.'

They had decided it was best that Lucy go up against several different fighting styles before returning to her Master. After all, who wanted a combat Spirit who wasn't _ready_ for combat? Thus, they had agreed at her unexpected request to train with her before she

(Also, though she didn't admit it, they were all pretty sure she was afraid of disappointing her old friend.)

Loke glanced down at his wrist, eyes quickly skimming his watch.

"I'd say we have a good half hour before Yukino will really need any of us," Loke said, doing some quick math in his head. (By the way, I actually did the math, one hour in the Spirit World is equivalent to 3.5 days on Earthland.) "Yukino probably won't need us until it comes to the one on one match; the first one besides the preliminaries that she'll be participating in." (Yukino hadn't even needed her keys, having Rogue and Sting on the team. They'd done the same thing Natsu had; used their noses to smell their way out. Fresh air evidently had a very different smell.)

"Unless she checks her key ring and summons you in the next half hour, I think you can get a decent amount of sparring in."

Lucy rolled her neck, anticipation making her skin tingle. Her palms were sweaty, and her heart rate was accelerating. Aquarius smiled (inwardly of course).

"Little girl, your nerves must be made of cardboard for you to be to nervous." Aquarius said, teasing. (It didn't happen often.)

"Can I... Can I fight Loke first?" Lucy asked. "I just uh... I'm not quite ready to die again just yet."

It was obvious that her joke was understood, but both Aquarius and Loke's moods immediately darkened.

"Sorry, just a joke," Lucy apologized, feeling genuinely ashamed.

"It's alright," Loke quickly interjected. "We just... we're really happy to have you back."

Lucy nodded, completely unconvinced.

"Alright."

Lucy gave him a clearly disbelieving look, and he gave her an exasperated sigh. Virgo, seeing that Lucy was getting more nervous with every second that ticked by, suddenly cut in.

"Fine. Capricorn, you're up."

The humanoid goat rose and made his way to the ring, and an uneasy murmur spread throughout the crowd. (And by the crowd, in mean all of the Spirits currently in Yukino's possession.) Even Aquarius had an uneasy look on her face, as she knew that Capricorn was a tough opponent, especially in close combat.

"Virgo... I- are you sure...?" Loke asked apprehensively, not wanting to sound like he was skeptic of Lucy's abilities. He wasn't hesitating because he thought she was weak, he just... Maybe she should ease into this whole fighting thing. Lord knows that he was pretty pathetic the first time he'd tried using his powers. He still remembered it very clearly; him nearly blinding _himself_ using Lion Brilliance the first time.

Virgo ignored him. Even Capricorn himself hesitated before stepping in the ring.

"Don't go easy on her," the King commanded, as he himself wasn't sure as to how this fight would play out. Capricorn had more experience, but Lucy's style was completely different now, and it was hard to forget the way someone used to fight. Capricorn would have to completely wipe the slate clean, and forget her old style. That, and she definitely had the element of surprise on her side.

"Ready?"

Before Aquarius could open her mouth and protest, Lucy nodded, and the fight began.

* * *

Loke didn't know what she'd meant when Virgo had told him Lucy had shown a lot of promise.

Maybe a bit of fumbling around, a few minor injuries that would heal almost instantly. (Spirits injured in the Human world in battle were sent back because the magic in the air in the Spirit World healed most injuries in seconds. Depending on how bad they'd been hurt, it'd take varying amounts of time to fully recover. Of course, just a few seconds in the Spirits World was much longer...)

He was certain this fight wouldn't last very long. Lucy was most likely still recovering from being reborn and all, and she all of a sudden had a new pair of appendages sprouting from her back. That and once you factored in the face that Capricorn was... fast. Really, _really_ fast.

He'd been expecting good form, because Lucy had, of course, been in battle several times before without her Spirits. Other than that, he hadn't really known what exactly he was expecting.

He was certain it wasn't _this._

He hadn't been expecting her to immediately shoot into the air, a golden beam of light just starting to solidify in her hand. Her change in demeanor had been almost instantaneous, one minute she was sweating buckets, and the next she was swift and silent and damn good at fighting.

Then the beam of light was a sword, and she swung it. An arc of light rippled out, ramming into Capricorn and sending him back. Clearly caught off guard, he had to quickly adapt.

He was in front of before she could blink, his elbow coming out to jab her in the ribs, followed closely by his right fist.

But Lucy rose her hand defensively, and a glowing shield erupted around her. Safely encased the nearly transparent dome, Lucy shot her arm out, her palm facing him. Golden energy burst from the hand not wielding the sword, hitting him squarely in the chest.

He knew the moment her body suddenly was devoid of tension, and her spine straightened and her wings propelled her twenty feet up. The second the expression on her face had morphed into one a soldier in battle wore while running through battle tactics. He'd known as soon at the fight had started.

She was a combat Spirit. Build for speed and fighting.

But by the time all of these thoughts had gone through his head, he was on the ground.

The shield had dissolved into thin air, and a completely befuddled Capricorn was left staring up at his old Master, her hand outstretched.

"Not too bad for a newbie, eh?"

That was the moment, they'd all realized, while things would never be the same, she was still the same Lucy they'd known and loved.

Just... with a bigger arsenal of moves at her disposal.

And wings.

Wings too.

* * *

He knew.

Yukino was crying.

Rogue could smell her tears from the next room over, the salt mingling in the air cold air. Their window was open, and he was guess in hers was as well.

Shooting up in bed, he glanced over at Sting, who seemed to be in distress. Walking over to the other twin bed, Rogue looked down at the sleeping Dragon Slayer.

Sting was whimpering, curling in on himself as a wave of _something,_ god knows what, painfully rolled through him.

 _Something's wrong._

Rogue was out the door and in front of hers within second, his hand ratting the doorknob.

She didn't answer.

Plan B.

Rogue ran back in the room, and out onto their balcony. Yukino often didn't close the doors leading outside when she slept so maybe he could jump and-

He stopped, because the Celestial Mage was already there.

She was sniffling, he nose stuffy and her eyes red as she stared up into the sky. She was talking, he realized, as the panic began to die out. She wasn't hurt. She was having another bad night.

"-you should've heard him talk about it Luce," she was saying up to the stars. Rogue wasn't quite sure what to do, seeing as this seemed like a private conversation.

 _Do I leave, or...?_

Craning her neck up, she could see Loke's constellation. It was dim; for some reason al the stars had been since Lucy's passing. She sobbed again into her sleeve, wiping away the water that fell from her eyes. "I bet she's beautiful. I bet she's strong and she's powerful and I bet she's _amazing_ ," Yukino said up into the darkness. "I bet she'll be _everything_ to him, the way he talked about it."

And then Yukino was on her knees, crying and grasping at the metal bars that separated her from a six story drop. Her shoulders shook erratically as she wept, tears just dripping down her face and soaking her pajamas. Her knuckles were white, with how much force she was using to grip the cold metal.

"I'm so sorry Lucy," Yukino genuinely apologized as she sniffled.

"I understand now." She suddenly stiffened.

 _Someone's here._

And with that, Yukino slowly turned her head, like an owl, to meet the eyes of Rogue Cheney.

He didn't move a muscle, not after having seen all that. He didn't know what to say, or how to react.

 _What... What on earth was that?_

Yukino felt humiliated, she would later admit. Rogue catching her in such a pathetic state. She'd always felt like the luckiest girl ever that had been fortunate enough for people to come along and treat her... like a family.

That had been Sabertooth.

And Sabertooth... they had treated her like a daughter. She would never stop feeling grateful for what they'd done for her. But she felt like garbage, compared to them. She knew she was.

She was nothing compared to Minerva. (It was ridiculous, she was still comparing herself to Minerva even though she wasn't even in the guild anymore _._ ) Minerva was captivating; a girl who was as cold as she was gorgeous. And Yukino had spent her entire life at Sabertooth in her shadow.

If it had been a normal guild, Yukino might have felt more guilt at resenting Minerva.

But it had been _Sabertooth_ , which had only been reformed into a closer knit family very shortly after Minerva had left.

The two were incomparable, Yukino knew. Yukino was the light; bright and cheerful, but weaker. And Minerva was the darkness, mysterious and strong and overwhelming.

Being looked down on by Minerva... had sucked, but being looked down on by the twins...

That hurt. A lot more.

And it had been a common occurrence back in the old Sabertooth. They'd never openly bashed her, but she'd always known they'd thought less of her. Because she'd been weak, because she'd lost that fight in the last games. While she didn't regret not behaving in the extreme Minerva had (remember that battle in the water sphere with Lucy?), Yukino would never forget the sense of crushing humiliation and disappointment after she'd lost, and been kicked out.

But now, this time, Yukino would walk away with her dignity still intact.

So, with an emotionless stare that she had copied from the very best (Minerva), Yukino stood and looked Rogue right in the eye, before turning on her heel and walking into her room. Slamming the balcony doors behind her, Yukino was sure to be quiet until she reached her bed.

Rogue remained on his balcony, unmoving, contemplating what he'd just witnessed.

 _What on Earth ...?_

She prayed that he couldn't somehow tell she was crying silent tears under her duvet was well.

* * *

 **Bye.**

 **Who wants to take over in the reviews?**

 **Again.**

 **-Pyro**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Just a heads up; most of this chapter is describing the first event. (Which, no, unfortunately, is not the one where Lucy appears. Next chapter, promise. Trust me, I know what I'm doing now.)**

 **Anyways, I owe a huge thanks to:**

 **Casey-Pup**

 **MisfitQueen**

 **The-Element-Snow**

 **juneJuly305**

 **Molten-Ashes**

 **SumWhat Sketchy**

 **Amv20**

 **OhannaLife**

 **kotono3**

 **RandomObserver42**

 **Lecy98**

 **YonaluDragonfilliaOTP's**

 **RazenshiaSapphire1306**

 **Nutellaaddict**

 **serioushugsies**

 **Kate. R12**

 **BloodyAsylum**

 **KameG**

 **Lillz11**

 **zxxphyr**

 **D. S. Willow**

 **kallen10**

 **Zeroheart**

 **bladzesword**

 **NightKnight13- Thanks!**

 **omgcrying-lovethis**

 **powerade101**

 **104688**

 **aretha. nm**

 **kthanksbye**

 **NikkiFaeDragane**

 **creative hahnaa**

 **Renjihime143**

 **TheKeyToDestiny**

 **CatLikeRuby**

 **Angel Dimond**

 **narutoyaoifan- ...well, you do you, dude.**

 **macy10495**

 **EliteBookworm**

 **MSch28**

 **NVismyname**

 **Nillaney**

 **dusty999**

 **The Bubbly Violin**

 **felic42- I _promise_ they'll meet soon. Next chapter. (Sorry.)**

 **iheartpickles- I tried to make Lucy _not_ as useless as she was in the show...**

 **Thegirlwonder09- Really? Aww, thank you so much! That makes me feel... God, I can't even... just, _amazing._ Thank you for that. **

**OMGShamrock123- I honestly wasn't expecting her to beat him either but... I felt like Lucy finally deserved something good to happen to her.**

 **urban flora- See how I decided to put Natsu in the Games. I think it was the right way to go.**

 **BeginnerFanFictionWriter16- Angst is fun to write. Pretty much. That's how I started this story. and it just kinda evolved from there and... Yeah.**

 **IbeWildBella- You don't have to be sorry, it's not like any of it was your fault. Thank you, though.**

 **Ms. CookieSmugler- I know I love StingYu so much too... And I feel like hat with a lot of stories, where I just wanna reach into the book and just tell characters to stop being so stupid.**

 **ShugoYuuki123- Don't worry, she will soon!**

 **GoldenDarkness- Shhh not yet.. Shhh...**

 **faithful2kh- Really? Beautiful? I'm just... at a loss for words. Thank you!**

 **LavenderMoonRose- You guys rock. Really. And I promise, I'll try to not totally overwhelm you guys.**

 **AprilJane01- Alright, will do! I've been imagining it too...**

 **the-clumsy-one- See, that's what I was thinking. Great minds think alike, right?**

 **maidenoftheluminousrapture- Thank you for what you said. And don't call yourself stupid! And... human... sized... statue?**

 **Johnny Spectre- Oooh good ideas! Thank so much *tucks them away for later use***

 **Caecus Enkeli- See, I was thinking along those lines as well. Glad you understand how I felt about it.**

 **Alicia Trinidad- I think I definitely Like 'Lucy the badass' more than 'Lucy the useless damsel in distress in _every_ situation she's put in.'**

 **nerdcandy- Aww, that's so sweet, thank you!**

 **Tawny- turn me into a pumpkin? Well I suppose not I _have to_ finish it... (P.S. you were right the second time, it's Senpai.)**

 _ **READ THIS ONE BELOW IT'S IMPORTANT**_

 **Empress of Everything- THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! (And yes, I can feel your hugs all the way from the East Coast.) See, I decided on putting Yukino against Natsu, literally for the sole reason of: I've run out of** **opponents on the Fairy Tail Team. (It was either Juvia or Natsu so I mean... It'd be a bit too cliché for Lucy to just appear in front of Natsu so... Yeah... Java it is.) And writing Yukino and Sting is actually so frustrating because nghhhhh I don't even know how to explain it... Personally, I too think that watching them stumble around like oblivious idiots is... how did you put it? Vastly amusing, I find, describes it perfectly.**

 **wishyouweremedontya- I WANT THEM TO MEET TOO... Oh, and thank you so much for that, it means a lot.**

 **Fanfic Devil- Welp, at least the wait's finally over...**

 **Darkangel-Luv- Sorry I took so long! I'll try harder from now on, I swear!**

* * *

White Fang. A new guild, four out of the five the members in the team of five being male. The leader of the team was a Wind Mage, nicknamed Hiro ( pretty nice, who was still astounded at their stroke of luck. Gray had briefly spoken with him after the castle challenge; he was nice. But, he was also very realistic in terms of his Guild's abilities. (It was difficult to admit; and it hurt a little bit, but they were _all_ rather sure they were it was a whim that they'd gotten in. Really. It was pure luck that they'd stumbled upon the last exit.)

Blue Pegasus. Mostly known for their womanizing Trimens, they had once again made it past the preliminaries. Of course, Ichiya (unfortunately) hadn't changed in the time that had passed

Mermaid Heel. Exclusively comprised of female, the leader of the team was Kagura. Solemn and intense, she wasn't an opponent you wanted to go up against one on one.

Lamia Scale. Well known for certain members, among them was the God Slayer Sherria, and the Ice Mage Lyon. Not to mention Jura, one of the Ten Wizard Saints.

Then the real powerhouses. The main events that everyone, _everyone_ was anxiously awaiting.

Sabertooth. Possessing not one, but _two_ Dragon Slayers on the team, there was a real uproar when the media had heard they'd be competing once again. Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney, the twins. And then there was Yukino Agria, the renowned Celestial Mage who was currently holding contracts with every gold key known to exist. (And, the one that's existence was _not_ known. Though, the young woman herself wasn't aware of that. Yet.)

And then, there was Fairy Tail.

The big, badass Guild that had won the title of Fiore's strongest. The guild that had been through the most heartache, and suffering in the past year than some people experienced in their entire lifetime. They had endured the most press coverage (I say it like it's a bad thing mainly because it _is_ a bad thing. How would you like someone always shoving a mic in your face, or always seeing yourself in the papers?) and were the most well-known faces on the continent but now.

Leading them all, was Natsu Dragneel.

It wasn't an unknown fact that the Fairies all were fiercely protective of their Guild Mates. And, they always fought much, _much_ harder when someone they loved was at stake.

And now, Lucy's name was the thing they were fighting for. They'd all loved Lucy. No, they all _love_ Lucy.

So, for her, they'd win.

They. Would.

* * *

Gray scowled.

"This is ridiculous," he growled, rolling his eyes. "It's a bad idea," he warned, not for the first time.

"My answer is final," the Master said, the tone of his voice indicating that it was not up for discussion.

"You and Gajeel with fight together for the first event."

The first event this year was two from each team, now that there were only six guild participating, rather than eight. (You know how the first events were a 'one from each Guild' kind of thing.)

Of course, what the actual event was this first round was a mystery, as usual. All participants were going in completely unaware of what the challenge would be, only that they needed to be on their guard. They had five minutes to pick a team of two.

And Makarov had decided to send in Gray and Gajeel. Together.

"But Ma-"

"Strategically, it makes more sense to save Erza and Natsu for the singular events. We agreed upon this the other night," Master said, watching Gray nod, so far following his trail of thought. "We agreed upon this already, so _why_ is there question about this arrangement?"

"Because," Gray said, pinching the bridge of his nose, " _Juvia_ is my partner. _Not_ Gajeel. Gajeel is the other single. Our Unison Raid has a _really_ high success rate, remember?"

"Juvia wasn't feeling up to the challenge," Makarov answered shortly.

"Is she okay-"

"The girls all had a party for Lucy last night," The Master offered up solemnly.

Ah.

"They... I think they should take it easy for today, Alright? We've got two events today, so I'm subbing out Juvia for Gajeel, and since we planned on sending Gajeel and Erza in for the single matches, we'll have Gajeel take Juvia's place. Erza says she's feeling good enough compete, so Erza will take Gajeel's place and we'll sub in Natsu tomorrow for the single instead."

Gray nodded.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

The new arena was... huge. It was a grand, elaborate work of architecture that put last year's arena to shame. It was a monumental, spectacular Colosseum that was constructed of towering columns of white marble, and intricate carvings spiraling upwards into the seats.

Protective runes bordered the very edges of where the marble touched the dirt; ensuring that no bystanders would get hit by rogue blasts of magic. (It was pretty stupid looking back at it, that this procedure hadn't been used in the first few games. It had resulted in quite a few injuries, followed by more than a few lawsuits.)

And out stepped the first Mages.

Hiro and Asuka, from White Fang. The girl beside the good-natured leader had deep blue hair, darker than Wendy's. They were the newbies, but to their credit, they held their ground, heads held high. (Thought, they had to concentrate on keeping their knees from shaking when they thought about the possibilities if they were forced to come in contact with Fairy Tail or Sabertooth.)

Yuka and Sherry. Lamia Scale.

Araña and Risley. Mermaid Heel.

Orga and Rufus. Sabertooth.

When Gray and Gajeel stepped into the area, solemnly staring off at the Sabertooth, the whole area quieted. Considerably.

 _What on earth is going on down there?_ The Master thought to himself, squinting his eyes.

And then Rufus tipped his hat in recognition, and Gray cracked a smile. Master let out a sigh of relief.

Gajeel grinned, his canines sharp and pointed, and laughed the sky.

And then stone columns erupted from the ground. Pillars of stone rising to tower over even the audience. The whole arena even.

Gajeel's smile only widened at the prospect of what this might mean.

Then the arena went pitch black.

* * *

And then the lights focused down on them, and they were blinded by its brilliance.

 _"Alright then! Here begins the first official event of this years Grand Magic Games!"_ A loud voice boomed over the crowd. Slowly, the talking died out, murmurs slowly fading into nothing. _"Here stands two members from each guild, as you may have noticed. And at random around the_ _floor are stone towers. Each has a flag on top"_

Each tower had a pathetic staircase slowly winding up, though it looked as though one wrong step would lead to someone plummeting down to the ground. They were tiny, just barely a few feet wide. And at the tops of the towers were flags.

 _"You'll also notice that the towers_ _are all different heights. The higher the tower, the more points the flag on top is. Whoever gets to the top of the tower first and grabs the flag gets however many points that flag is worth,"_ the voice explained.

Gray took this all in, already exchanging looks with Gajeel. They had to plan this; strategize with the few precious moments they had before it really began.

It wouldn't do for them both to go after the same tower. That much was obvious. Gajeel jerked his head to the side, nodding towards the second highest tower. Gray, narrowing his eyes, took this into consideration, before finally nodding.

 _Ah. What an interesting approach._

It was something they'd pulled on a job once, when Erza had been busy and Natsu had gone solo for a little to blow off some steam. He knew, he was _certain_ that him and the iron Dragon Slayer were thinking the same thing.

"Do you know how to skate?" Gray muttered under his breath.

"Yes," Gajeel breathed back.

But before Gajeel had time to ask why, the horn had sounded and everyone went running.

The strategies were quite interesting, really. Some went for the closest towers, and the others (aka Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, and Lamia Scale) went for the bigger prize.

But no one had time to entertain this idea as ice rapidly coated the ground they stood on.

Gray smirked, and Gajeel gave him an appraising grunt as he pushed forward and was of like a lightning bolt.

Game on.

* * *

Gray praised Mavis when he saw Rufus taking off after Sherry of Lamia Scale, who was heading to the tallest tower. (He had faith that he could put up a good fight, maybe even win, though the odds were pretty even between the two, but he was glad he wouldn't be facing off a friend just yet. He'd been hoping to hold off on that for a little while longer.)

Him and Gajeel swiftly made it to the base of the second tower. They began the climb, Gray leading the way.

Orga was gaining on them, and finally Gajeel had that wonderful feeling tingling through his hands.

Time for some friendly competition.

Orga, having spotted that him and Gray were both after the same flag, laughed.

 _"Oh ho, what's this? Are Gray and Gajeel of Fairy Tail really stupid enough to compete against each other?"_ The voiceover sounded almost amused. The crowd was confused; puzzled as to why Fairy Tail would make such a tactical error.

But Gray grinned knowingly, knowing they could get this one. They practically had those flags in their hands already.

Gajeel, who had turned his arm into Iron to block Orga's attacks, suddenly cried out. Electricity had carried though his entire _metal_ arm. Gajeel gave a warning shout, flipping over Gray. Gray shot out staffs of solid ice, like blunted lances; Orga reared back, almost losing his balance. They took the chance and ran for it. Each step brought them that much closer to victory, to winning in the name of Lucy. Quite some motivation.

And then they were at the top, the first people to make it. Rufus and Sherry still only half way up their chose tower. They both smirked in spite of themselves.

 _Gotcha._

Gajeel grabbed the flag, ensuring that Orga wouldn't be able to sneak up and steal the flag before they achieved their goal. The flag disappeared, vanishing as Gajeel's points appeared on the screen.

Eleven points.

Orga cursed, hurriedly descending in hopes of securing a decent amount of points. Gajeel cracked his knuckles, then his neck.

"You ready?"

Gray nodded.

So Gajeel simply grabbed him by the arms, spun in a circle until Gray feet were off the ground, and hurled Gray off the top of the column as hard as he could. Realization sparked in the eyes of many, and both laughter and cheers broke out all through the audience.

 _Brilliant,_ Master Makarov though to himself as Gray landed at the top of the highest tower, hand shooting out to grab he flag mounted at the top. Then there he was, Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail, towering over everyone. The flag glowed, then vanished.

Twelve points.

Even Levy, whose eyes were weary from the party the previous, had laughter bubbling out form her lips. She was clapping, rosy-cheeked and smiling radiantly. (It warmed his heart; seeing something that had simply vanished for what had felt like forever.)

That was when Master knew he'd made the right choice by entering them in the Games.

Also, his little hypothesis about Gajeel having a thing for Levy might have been a slightly off.

Perhaps it was the other way around.

* * *

Erza's match had resulted in a tie.

All the candidates had been matched up to a specific monster, and had been timed. The contestant with the lowest time would be awarded the most points. The monsters had been specifically chosen, by a group of experts as soon as the Guild who'd passed the preliminary match had been determined. Every member had been considered, seeing as there was no way to be sure who'd be competing for this round. All S-Class Monsters, regardless if the Mages themselves were officially S-Class mages.

Lyon's match had taken a little over two minutes, landing him squarely in second place. It wasn't bad, considering how the monster had been practically immune to temperature changes; extreme cold hadn't been effective in the slightest. Eventually, Lyon had managed to take it down with tactics he'd actually developed from Juvia, of all people.

She used fluid, graceful motions; flowing like water itself.

While him and Gray had originally operated through a rougher, more offensive style there definitely more opportunities and openings for an opponent to slip through their defenses. They were pretty tough, anyone would admit, but sometimes, simply being fast and strong wasn't enough to win.

Every time they struck, moving forward to deliver a blow, they'd somehow have to retract fast enough defend. The excess energy used to constantly go back and forth was both tiring and highly ineffective. But Juvia, her movements after striking out didn't suddenly stop. instead, she kept moving, twirling and carrying out her motions in long, graceful strokes. What had started out as a forward attack would then turn into a graceful twist around the enemy, and then a stance for defense.

It was very efficient.

But both Rogue and Erza had both placed at one minute and nineteen seconds.

Erza had cursed, letting her head fall with the weight of failure. But the rest of the audience? They were cheering. Clapping and whooping and screaming. They all greeted her with a huge group hugs and laughs, practically gushing over how awesome she'd been. For once, they were a family again. They were the guild that people recognized; the one they remembered from that last game. They were the old, loud, crazy family that had been buried in heaps of sadness.

And now, they were emerging.

Similarly, Sabertooth was all over Rogue, Yukino herself having tackled him in a hug the second he'd stepped out of the ring.

Sting's smile was frozen across his face.

 _She couldn't..._ _I mean..._

 _Rogue?_

He would later wonder if anyone had even noticed him shove his hands in his pockets and leave.

* * *

They'd never been so happy. Not since she'd died, anyway. There was signing and dancing and a _lot_ of drinking. A. Lot. Even Natsu, with an almost grimace-sort-of-half smile, he joined in the festivities. Lisanna had even draped a pathetic party hat on his head, threatening he'd pay if he took the thing off.

He'd decided to amuse her. For a little while.

Yukino had stopped by to congratulate them, despite her own guild having place just after them. (No hard feelings, remember? To them, it was just a friendly competition.) Natsu wisely not mentioned the Light Dragon Slayer who'd followed her. (Mostly because said Dragon Slayer had jut his head out from the shadows just long enough to send Natsu a seething glare. Natsu had then proceeded to choke down an amused smirk and welcome Yukino inside.)

And so ended the first day of the Games.

* * *

Yukino had never been more nervous in her life.

Sabertooth was right behind Fairy Tail in terms of points, but things seemed to be... slightly off with their Master MIA.

Rogue seemed to have an idea of what was going on, as did Natsu when she'd asked about it. Laxus, Gajeel, even Wendy seemed very knowledgeable to the subject. But no one would tell her, dammit! She'd seen the answer dawn on Gajeel, his eyes just so slightly gleaming with comprehension. But out of the corner of her eyes, if she'd been paying attention, she would have Rogue almost imperceptibly shake his head.

Sting needed time. He needed to process what was happening. Everyone, all of the Dragon Slayers that is, needed to help him put the pieces together.

But now, they had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Dragons had told them once, that Mates were a very powerful thing. But sometimes fate wasn't so kind, and while your soul could belong to someone else... that didn't mean their heart had to belong to you. The chances were one in a million but... Well, Sting seemed to have pulled the short straw. He was genetically engineered to make her happy, so he would let her go, his heart slowly shattering in the process.

He would let her fall in love with someone else, and he would watch her live her life without him.

They'd all seen her jump on Rogue. They'd all noticed how she cut Sting out, avoiding him like he was the plague. And then'd all noticed how she stuck to Rogue nowadays.

Maybe if Erik had been around, and willing to divulge in her deepest thoughts, he would, have told them it was because he reminded her so much of his brother that Yukino was always around the Shadow Dragon Slayer. Maybe they would have known that she just... couldn't look at the blonde without feeling something crack inside her.

But then Rogue had (hesitantly) shared what he'd walked in on the other night, and Wendy had just leaned back, saying that it'd all work out

Girls were so weird sometimes.

The day of the one on one matches, they had all come down to breakfast.

And now, looking down at her with cold eyes, was the man that had caused her more tears than she'd ever want to admit.

It made her eyes water, the way he was looking at her.

Like he had during those past years, in the old Sabertooth.

She felt like garbage.

He felt like crying.

Even in such a low state, it was amazing how Dragon Slayers and Mates truly did effect each other, whether for better or worse. (In this case it was obviously for the worse.)

"Hello," she finally managed, hoping she didn't look as taken aback as she felt. Even Rogue looked a bit startled at Stings new (well, old really) demeanor. Sting, on the other hand, was trying as hard as he cold to stay detached, so he didn't lose the (practically non-existent) dinner he'd forced down the previous night.

"Hi," he said shortly, once everyone had slowly wandered away.

"I just, uh," Yukino scratched the back of her neck. "I'm sorry for ignoring you the past few weeks."

Sting's spine straightened in spite of himself.

"I just, I had... _stuff_ , I guess, to deal with. And I just... needed to be away from everyone and everything for a while," Yukino explained, eye downcast.

"But, I'm guessing my own brother wasn't included in that, am I right?" Sting asked, ignoring his throat, which was growing painfully tight. Yukino froze, knowing she'd been caught.

 _I knew he wouldn't have bought that._

"I-" she swallowed thickly.

There was no way to justify her actions. No explanation she could give that he would accept.

"Mates," she suddenly blurted.

Almost immediately she regretted it.

Sting shoulders wen taut, and she knew she should have just kept her stupid mouth shut.

 _Oh._

 _OH._

She... was disgusted. She knew and she was just...

His vision was blurring with tears, and from across the room, Sting knew Rogue could sense it all falling apart. A smear of black was heading towards the them, and he brought a gloved hand up to wipe away the tears. Yukino's eyes were glazing over, though Sting was too occupied with his own state to notice.

"So," he started, with his voice hoarse.

"Just... don't... This is already hard for me," Yukino interrupted.

"I bet she's beautiful."

Sting's head snapped up, eyebrows quirked. But she was already backing away, then breaking into a sprint, leaving nothing behind but a baffled blonde and tears on the ground.

* * *

She could feel eyes on her.

Thousands of people, watching her every move.

And thousands of eyes, including her own, on her opponent.

Juvia.

* * *

 **Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween!**

 **-Pyro**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 ** _OKAY IMPORTANT NOTE HERE PAY ATTENTION:_  
**

 **Do you all remember how Lucy called out Sagittarius before they officially had a contract? Yeah, that's how this is gonna work.**

 **Second, I promise the ship is STILL YUKINO AND STING I DON'T SHIP ROGUE AND YUKINO THE WHOLE POINT OF ALL THAT DRAMA LAST CHAPTER WAS JUST STING GETTING ALL PARANOID AND JEALOUS. I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO LOOK THAT WAY. ROGUE IS NOT HER MATE**

 **Lastly, yes, Juvia _will_ be fighting against Lucy. I felt like if I threw Natsu and 'Andromeda' together in the ring it would have been a bit of an overkill. (Also, very cliché.) Also, I love her, but Yukino's not really a match for Natsu. yet. Maybe one day, but not today. So, it's pretty unrealistic for them to be paired together for a one on one fight.**

 **XxFairy-chanxX**

 **LunaStarrOfFairyTail- Yeah, yeah, I promise... (I'm smiling, by the way.)**

 **allcutenamesaretaken**

 **Adrianarose97**

 **Whatsayoya**

 **Fairytail1mage- Glad to hear it!**

 **1fairytaillover**

 **Starlight1214**

 **LucyHRose**

 **Enderine**

 **animelove22**

 **amycape**

 **Addicted. ADC**

 **12animecat**

 **spokliva**

 **The Johno 23**

 **12Rayne- I almost cried while _writing_ the first chapter. (I kid you not, I actually had to shut my computer and take a few deep breaths. Really.)**

 **Bitch Ate My Cupcake**

 **Crissdragon**

 **ILuvUsagiChan**

 **crimsonlord20221**

 **Eeveexme**

 **blackorwhitewolf**

 **Squidgy999**

 **GloomyMercury98**

 **NightsShadow109**

 **lilsweet5**

 **dashort12**

 **fairytailshipper05**

 **sakuraangel95**

 **Rekunae**

 **PandaYuki-Chibi**

 **NightmarLover**

 **LavenderMoonRose- No, she hasn't _yet_. And yep, finally!**

 **Thegirlwonder09- Really? Nice? Aww, that's so sweet of you to say! Thank you! And wow, I'm not sure if my writings quite that good enough to attract _that_ many reviews! But, I aspire to reach those high achievements. **

**Darkangel-Luv- Really? Thant's great! I'm glad you're excited about it!**

 **Kate. R12- I know, the poor guy just seems to be having some real bad luck, huh?**

 **Skyline179- Waitwaitwaitwait I PROMISE IT'S STILL STING AND YUKINO I SWEAR. Oh, and Happy Halloween (belated) to you too!**

 **iheartpickles- NO I _PROMISE_ THAT ROGUE IS NOT HER MATE. (I'm sorry I sound so worked up, but just the thought of something becoming between my ship kinda kills me on the ****inside.)**

 **nerdcandy- *continues to write BC I don't wanna be haunted for the rest of my life* Nah, just kidding. But actually, you're not pushy. At all. The motivation is good for me. It's great incentive.**

 **lonewolf- thanks for the suggestions! I'll keep these in mind.**

 **HazelDragonNora- I'm so glad that you enjoy the way I portray the emotions of the characters! And really, what you said about my writing style means _so_ much to me. And don't worry; I'm not stopping until it's done! (And even then, I might have an idea for a new Fairy Tail fic after this...)**

 **yukinos- I know they're _so_ blind to each other's emotions and it _kills_ me!**

 **ShugoYuuki123- Happy** **belated Halloween to you as well!**

 **KawaiiOtaku100- a) thank you for calling me Pyro. It's the small gestures that really touch my heart. Also, I thought so too, about Gajeel and Gray. I mean, I put them together because I thought they'd be an interesting pair, and you never see just the two of them fighting together.**

 **ANG3LBL00M- Dude, it's cool. Really. I don't mind it that much, excuse not everyone checks the reviews. (I really shouldn't have been so touchy about that. I've just been having a hard time lately, and I guess... I was just being a little harsh. Sorry.)**

 **maidenoftheluminousrapture- *as the feels awaken* I honestly am _so_ happy that for the most part, everyone here seems to support my choice of the Sting and Yukino ship. Also, cool ****costume! (that was a great Shoujou.) I was gonna go in my Comicon Costume (I was Levy), but then _literally no one_ knew who I was. (Also, your brother sounds... hardcore man. Wow.) **

* * *

Heavier.

Her key ring was heavier.

She hadn't even needed to use her keys since arriving at the Games, and she'd been crying too hard to notice before but... Now that her senses were hyper-aware, as they always were when she entered a battle... The weight as definitely off.

Celestial keys, while small, _were_ solid gold or silver.

And now, with her ring attached to her hip, and her hand already inching towards Loke's key, she knew.

Celestial wizards _had_ to know each key just by touch alone. In the middle of a battle, it was _way_ to risky to take the time to decide on who to call out, frantically search through your keys, and then take it out and... yeah. It was important to know all your keys, just by feeling them.

And now, with her fingers sliding over the delicate end of a glimmering gold key, Yukino gave it a puzzled look. But the match had started, and Juvia was completely unaware of Yukino's inner turmoil.

 _What the hell is going on?_

And then Juvia was slashing out, water darting forwards. Yukino ducked, leaping back gracefully. It was like a dance, Juvia twirling and slashing, never stopping. Yukino, on the other hand, was fumbling with her keys to pull out Loke. She couldn't call a Spirit out without their name, and Loke would know what was happening.

Hopefully.

"Open: Gate of the Lion! Loke!" Yukino commanded, thrusting the key out. The air shimmered for a second, and the gate opened. There stood the Lion, looking happy and smiling. Nonchalantly pushing his glasses up, he tossed his hair to the side.

Up in the stands, Gray froze. He knew that look.

Loke's womanizing look.

 _No way in hell._

Even Mater was taken aback, as the big screens focused in on the Lion's face.

 _What on Earth?_

Natsu's eyes were stormy. They'd agreed weeks ago that they would be fine with fighting Lucy's old Spirits. They had called out Loke and Virgo (Aquarius had _not_ been feeling up to it) and decided they would manage, and there would be no holding back on either side. They would be friendly, of course, and not go to the extreme like Minerva had. But for him to move on so early and so fast...

 _That traitor._

Juvia was determined though. She shielded her eyes, remembering his Lion Brilliance. She flipped over them, landing with ease in a crouch. Rolling to the side, she narrowly avoided a punch that had landed not a foot from her. She kicked her foot out, landing squarely in the middle of his chest. He let out an 'oof' and stumbled back.

 _Damn, she kicks hard._

He loosened his tie. His fist connected with Juvia's side, but she'd transformed back into water before he could do any harm.

Juvia had completely flooded the area, and Yukino was wading in water up to her thighs.

And Loke _was_ a cat if you thought about it, and well... He wasn't exactly very fond of water. Or being wet. He wasn't going to be of much help here.

"Yukino," he called over his shoulder. Yukino, dodging another ball of water that came swinging by her head, nodded. Juvia let a huge blast of water, throwing the two back. Yukino had braced herself against the current, and Loke had been tossed back several feet.

"Princess!" he shouted. Yukino quirked an eyebrow.

 _That's not my name..._

Except from brining back some rather painful memories for everyone (who was it that the Spirits had used to call Princess again...?), everyone was baffled as to his odd outburst. Gray had cocked his head to the size, scrunching his lips together.

"She's a princess!" He yelled over the roaring water, churning and swirling strongly around them.

Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her belt.

It was the first part of the summoning command.

"Her name is Andromeda!" was the last thing he shouted.

And then he vanished, the water having swept him down under. She felt his gate open, and suddenly he had left this world.

The water swirling around Juvia, her own personal hurricane, was growing.

Yukino ran through her list of options. Virtually none of her Spirits would be of any help here. Aquarius had to be summoned in water, and thanks to her opponent, there was no shortage of that in the ring. However, If Juvia turned her body to water, and Aquarius fought _with_ water... That was an endless cycle she really didn't have time to deal with.

Dammit.

Her and Juvia were more or less on the same level, there was no doubt about it, but Juvia had the upper hand situation wise. If the circumstances had been different, maybe she could have used her environment to her advantage. But now, surrounded by spectators and nothing but dirt and water, she had to come up with something. Fast.

Or, she could take a risk.

She didn't have a single idea about this new Spirit's abilities, or even how they would fight. Or, what kind of use they were meant for. Combat? Knowledge? Storage? Or even another freaking compass? Or worse, what if it was something as harmless as Plue? She couldn't just do that to a Spirit, right? No, it was a risk that might not pay off.

 _Sting._

Suddenly his disappointed, almost disgusted look, flashed across her mind, from when she had failed the previous year. She swallowed her shame, and undid the key hanging from her collection without thinking twice. Holding it out, she closed her eyes.

 _I will not fail again. Not in front of all these people._

 _Not in front of him._

Confused, excited murmurs filled the crowd.

A new key. All keys in existence had been documented already. While they were rare, and hard to come by, people knew which ones were with who, and which ones were simply just... out there. Somewhere. The newest key that had appeared had been decades ago, and it had been around for a relatively long time even then. (It had just been kept within a family, a well guarded secret until the little silver key had been passed on and somehow ended up in a little magic shop. And that is how Lucy Heartfilia got her hands on Canis Minor.)

"Open! Gate of the Princess! Andromeda!"

But Juvia hadn't been thrown off by this odd occurrence. (A Celestial Wizard summoning a Spirit, and having to be _told_ the name of this Spirit, right in the middle of a battle was perceptually unheard of. Meaning they wouldn't have a contract yet. It was an anomaly that hadn't been seen before. Except of course, for the exceptional case of Lucy's first encounter with Sagittarius.)

She didn't even falter as swung her hand, and another current threatened to sweep Yukino off her feet. It had been only half successful, as Yukino stumbled back, the key now pointing up at the sun.

And then a beam of golden light shot up into the heavens, and an angel came plummeting down to Earth.

* * *

Lucy had been in the middle of a conversation with Virgo when she'd felt a tug, and she'd suddenly been falling. Really, really fast. Headfirst, Andromeda was like a falling star; golden and radiating light. The skies were a stark contrast to that of those in the world she;d just

 _That was both highly unexpected and inconvenient,_ the blonde thought to herself almost lazily as she felt the ground growing near. But then she actually glanced down, to see where to land, and she knew. Anticipation crawled over her skin like lightning.

Because, in the distance, she could see them. They were just barely distinguished, but... She was sure. Maybe it was the warmth that filled her chest, or just the simple fact that she knew, if this is what she thought it was, then they had to be here.

Her family.

And she she was smiling, so heartbreakingly wide and warm, as she approached the people she would never be complete without.

Fairy Tail.

* * *

Yukino had been holding her breath since she'd felt the Gate open. The beam of light had seemingly disappeared into the sun, which was directly overhead. She'd just stared up, not seeing anything. For a solid thirty seconds, they were all just squinting up at the sun like a bunch of idiots.

 _Is this new Spirit invisible or...?_

They all watched as a shape began to form, a tiny blob of darkness growing on the surface of the sun.

But then it grew closer, and it wasn't a dark spot at all.

It was a person. A vaguely human silhouette was rapidly approaching the ring. They were falling head first.

Yukino and Juvia screamed, watching the seemingly motionless (in the sense that this creature was making absolutely no move to slow their descent. Also, they were eerily calm about their approaching demise.) They leapt apart, as the Spirit crashed in the spot where they both had stood.

When the dust cleared, they saw an angel. Her wings were spread, pure and white and breathtaking. Crouching, her wreath of leaves was askew atop her head, and her hair falling into her face, stood someone straight of out of an old mythology book. The Spirit was smiling down at the dirt, seemingly for no reason, and Yukino suddenly prayed that this one wasn't clinically insane. (Like Aquarius.)

Lucy could feel her voice rising to an unnaturally high octave as her excitement grew.

"Master?"

 _I'm here._

 _I'm really here._

And then she took one look at her opponent, and her stomach dropped.

Juvia.

* * *

Yukino finally gathered her thoughts to form a coherent statement.

"Andromeda," she said, stepping forward. "A contract. Can we form one later?" Yukino asked.

"Yes."

And with that, the angel rose, her wings lifting her over a hundred feet in a manner of speaking. And then just as fast, she came down, drawing a sword from thin air. Juvia vaulted backwards over Yukino, narrowly avoiding the huge line of energy that emitted from where she had slashed. Then she darted around the Celestial Spirit Mage and with her whole body now composed of water, aimed all water at her disposal and thrust it forwards.

Andromeda recovered quickly, and had her glowing golden shield erupting from the ground around her and Yukino before water flooded the arena once more.

Juvia was thrown back after colliding with the dome of energy, back in her solid form.

Time was up.

Yukino gasped. They'd won.

Sabertooth had won the match.

But on the other side, still on the ground Juvia hung her head.

She'd lost.

Yukino stepped forward, apologies for not helping her up sooner already on her tongue, but someone beat her to the punch. Andromeda stepped forward,hand outstretched. Juvia turned her head away, feeling tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

But the hand stayed, overing, and Juvia begrudgingly took it.

"Thank you," Juvia said, truly grateful. It wasn't always the case, for your opponent to be gracious enough to help you up when you'd lost. And then Juvia looked up, smiling surprisingly wide, which puzzled the Water Mage herself.

And Andromeda, smiling as well, brushed her damp hair aside with her free hand.

"Let's do that again sometime, alright?"

But then Juvia's eyes widened, and she dropped her hand. Lucy's smile fell from her face, not having realized what her reacting might have been.

And then she was screaming. Screaming like her heart was being ripped out of her chest and crushed right in front of her. She scrambled away, fingernails scratching at the wet dirt. She was clawing away from the angel, shaking, trembling like a leaf.

Gray, Natsu, and Gajeel were leaping over the railing and into the arena in the blink of an eye.

Andromeda, or Lucy, was slowly following Juvia, still offering her hand. Finally Juvia was against the wall, ad Lucy had her hand on her shoulder.

"It's me," she was saying, her voice hoarse.

"Juvia, it's me."

But Juvia was shaking her head, a crying, blubbering mess. She shut her eyes.

"Get your hands off of her!" Gray bellowed, roughly grabbing her arm. Wrenching the so called 'Princess' off his guild mate, Gray pushed her back. She hit the ground on her side, rolling a few feet, in a both humiliating and undignified manner. He had his hands on both sides of Juvia's face asking where she was hurt. But Juvia couldn't form a coherent thought, much less an explanation.

"Andromeda!" Yukino exclaimed. "What on earth is-"

"Yukino! Control your Spirit!" Natsu snarled, cutting her off.

No way in hell was he going to just sit by and calmly watch _another_ one of his Guild Mates be put in harm's way. Not. A. Chance.

Meanwhile, Lucy was trying to not cry, as she sat in the dirt.

 _Look at the mess you've made,_ she heard her own voice reprimanding her in her head. _Look what you've done. You fuck up._ _Why can't you do anything right?_

"Natsu, I-"

"No, Yukino! You know we didn't want to fight _any_ of Lucy's Spirits in the first place, but then you go and call out some random Spirit who you've spoken what, two words to? You don't even know her! She could have _killed_ Juvia! And then she went and harassed her! What were you _thinking?!_ " Natsu exploded.

"I _trust_ Loke! He suggested I call her out, so I did! God, he belonged to _her!_ Hell, he was one of you, with an official mark and everything before she saved him! What, do you not trust him anymore either? Just because now he fight with me?"

"I mean, Juvia's over there crying in the first so, at the moment, I can honestly say we can't trust _either_ of you!" Gajeel cut in. Yukino drew back, clearly offended and hurt.

And now two more people were leaping over into the ring, but from a different guild this time.

Sting _and_ Rogue were in the ring too now, snarling at the other two Dragon Slayers who were defensively placed in front of Gray, still comforting the crying girl.

"Stop yelling at her! Both of them! All she was doing was following Yukino's orders!"

"Oh, did I miss the part where she commanded her to terrify Juvia?" Gajeel asked, flexing his wrists.

"Gajeel, you of all people should know that..."

And then Yukino, while her two best friends were busy defending her, heard a grunt of pain. Turning, she was her new Spirit still on the ground, her hair in disarray and the green leaves on her head. And suddenly she felt _unimaginably_ guilty, as she had gone and thrust this innocent person into a lifetime's worth of drama.

"Hey there. I'm Yukino, your new key holder. What you did was amazing, by the way. I'm sorry about them. They just, uh, well we _all_ recently lost someone important to us. We just... they're a little protective of all their Guild Mates now. You didn't do anything wrong, I promise," she assured.

The angel nodded slowly, feeling tears welling up in her eyes as well.

"You're hurt," Yukino realized eyes widening. "Where is it? Are you okay? Are you in pain?"

Andromeda shook her head. Humiliated and confused, she kept her eyes down.

"They're all so angry," she said, frustrated tears rolling down and falling onto her dress.

"Did I do this?" She asked in a timid voice, her hands clenching the white silk. She sounded horrified. "Did I... You all hate each other? Why? You're all screaming at each other." Yukino inwardly winced. So far, she sounded like Aries. Oh. Boy. This would all go over real well. This was the last thing they needed right now.

"Friends," she spat bitterly. "You were all friends."

Now she was speaking nonsense, and Yukino was getting a headache. There was so much arguing, and now, as Rogue was beginning to roll up his sleeves, things were going downhill real fast.

"What's happened to you all?"

"Just get up," Gray snapped at her, without even looking over his shoulder. "And get out."

" _No!"_ Juvia cried shrilly, suddenly fighting him off. " _Please! Don't go! I_ _don't-"_ she stopped to hiccup, as she was crawling back. And then came a round of harsh coughing, and Juvia's world was going fuzzy.

"Get out!" Gray commanded, his voice dark and dangerous. "I don't know what you're doing to her, but _stop._ Go back to where you came from!"

"But I'm already here," she said softly, so softly that only the Dragon Slayers heard it, as she rose.

"Leave her alone!" Sting argued, inwardly puzzled. "You don't even know her! Mistakes happen!"

"She's crazy!" Gray accused, pointing a finger.

"Well I mean, she's suddenly summoned in the middle of a huge tournament, under a Master she's never even met, and now we're all screaming at her and each other. How the hell are we able to justify judging her?" Rogue cut in, that dangerous death glare building up behind his eyes.

"I did this to you all," she whispered, staggering forward, ignoring the other blonde. She was dragging her feet through the mud, her golden sandals getting coated with the wet ground. Ignoring Gray's repeated claim of her being insane, she kept walking.

And then there was another flash of light, and Loke was standing there, going from pale to red real quick. She fell into him, feeling dead. (Ha ha I'm so funny right? No? Too soon?)

"You asses." Loke snarled.

"Me? I'm the ass? Your little friend hurt Juvia! What, do you not care about her anymore? Just because you're Sabertooth now? Have you forgotten all about us now, now that she's gone?" Natsu demanded. Loke blanched, and even Natsu looked apologetic the second he'd said it.

As Loke stepped forward, looking ready to punch someone's lights out, Andromeda threw herself between them, latching onto Natsu's shoulders. All of her weight puled him down (It doesn't really need stating, but we all know he let her. Crying girls, wings or no wings, were not his forte), as she sobbed.

He patted her hair awkwardly, as one would to a dog, trying to console her.

"There, there," he said uneasily. He shot Gray a look.

 _What do I do?_

He shrugged.

 _I dunno._

She smelled of tears and sunlight and-

His pupils expanded and narrowed within the span of a second. He yanked her back, holding her at an arm's length. Gray looked confused, and Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue, couldn't smell anything under the overwhelming tears Juvia cried. Loke nodded, calming down. He should have remembered, they were as temperamental as he was just a few hours ago.

 _And so it begins._ He glanced around. _With quite the audience._

He kept his hands other shoulders as he shook her, a fire igniting somewhere inside him. It slowly growing, but burning hot regardless. He couldn't tel if it was anger, or something else yet.

"Who are you?" He growled.

The faint scent had the very memory of the smell hitting him full force. He was reeling, his nose overpowered, and his brain overwhelmed.

 _What the hell?_

She put her left hand across her chest, resting it on top of his.

With the other hand, only slightly trembling, she put a hand to his cheek. He instinctively leaned into her touch, his eyelids fluttering. She blew the strands hanging in front of her face to the side, a cute mannerism that he'd almost forgotten. Almost. But after all this time... no, he'd hung on to every obscure detail he could recall.

And then her brown eyes were meeting his, teary and happy, but sorrowful all the same.

It was a face he'd dreamed about, in nightmares and daydreams and wishful fantasies of her returning.

It was Lucy.

His Lucy.

She ran her thumb over his fingers, looking down at her lap.

"Look, I'm sorry for scaring Juvia and I just, I mean if you want me to go I'll just leave..." she broke off uneasily, before looking up to face him.

"I missed you," she finally said. "I know that I was gone but- I'll go, if it's too much."

It was a dream. Most definitely a dream. But that didn't mean Natsu wasn't going to enjoy the delusion for as long as he possibly could.

There was no doubt, no shred of uncertainty as he smiled, bright and delighted and amazed. There was nothing particularly despairing as he began to cry, happy tears coating his cheeks. There was no holding back, as he pushed her back onto the ground. And there was no hesitation as he cupped her face between his hands, and kissed her.

"Stay," he murmured against her lips, before continuing to move his lips against hers. Her heart was jumping wildly in her chest (she was almost positive he could hear it), as they both cried and kissed. Together.

And for a moment, there was nothing else in the universe.

There was nothing that disturbed them, nothing that could take them down from their high, not even the gasps nor the both scandalized and horrified screams of the thousands of people in the audience.

* * *

 **So...**

 **Whaddya think? I know, there's room for improvement, but hey, it could be worse. Definitely... could be worse. *goes back to read old writing* *cringes* So, I hope you guys at least liked it a little bit, I was thinking of doing the reunion in a different way, but then I realized it'd probably end up being too similar to my other fic, Stronger.**

 **See you,**

 **-Pyro**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Hey guys! So, I owe everyone a _huge_ apology for just disappearing. My life has just been SO busy the last few weeks and I am _so_ sorry. **

**Also, I'm sorry to say that in** **order to update faster, I will _not_ be responding to each individual comment. Sorry :( You can let me know if next chapter, if you want me to do it at the end of the next chapter, alright. So, this chapter goes out to:**

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* * *

"You goddamn bastard."

Gray stood, marching over to the Fire Dragon Slayer, and standing over him with a scowl.

"So, the first new girl that comes along, you throw yourself at?" Gray asked, angry. "Funny, I never took you for a man whore, but look where we are now," he sneered.

Loke roughly grabbed him by the shoulder (he would have by the collar, but as usual, Gray's penchant for stripping was raging, strong as ever) and wrenched him so they stood face to face. He glowered at him over his blue tinted glasses, his orange hair doing nothing to obscure his deadly glare.

"Shut the hell up," the Lion snarled.

"Oh, look who's standing up for you now, the _other_ infamous womanizer who-"

A golden beam of light shot Gray in the head. he lay on the ground, clutching his head.

"Ow! What the fuck?"

"I went easy on you," a voice came from the figure rising from under the Dragon Slayer. "Don't think you'd still be conscious if I'd actually wanted to hurt you. These are your friends, and all you've done since I got here was fight." The angel was looming over him, but had turned her head back to stare at the man still grasping her wrist.

"You're really... _real_ ," was all he said, as he got off the ground, to kneel in front of her. He hugged her around the waist, lifting her off her feet. She laughed as he spun her around, giggling like a teenage girl in love.

Which was what she was, actually.

"I missed you. I missed you so _so_ much," Natsu confessed.

She slid down, and stood on her tip toes on top of his feet. Their foreheads pressed together, her eyes sparkled in a way he'd only seen before in his dreams. Directed at him anyway.

Just a not-so-known fact: Lucy had given him that look. Many _many_ times over the course of them being partners. He'd just... Never noticed.

"A friend of yours told me I could've- we could've- had this a long time time ago," Natsu murmured, staring at her with eyes full of tears. "I can't believe I'm so stupid." Lucy drew back, still smiling.

"And you too, you big idiot," he said, mussing with her hair. "You never... Noticed how I looked at you? Yo big dummy, you thought Lisanna was my mate? I bothered you _all the time._ I even slept in your bed, dumbass." Natsu said, completely exasperated, not to mention infatuated, with his mate.

"Hey well-" Lucy spluttered for a second, searching for a retort. He snickered. "Hey! Stop laughing at me," she whined. He laughed harder. She was cute when she was angry. "Natsu! Oh, hey wait, I waited for you! I feel in love with you and I never went on another date again!"

"Hell yeah you didn't," was his smart ass reply, as he drew her closer to him.

"Levy told?" she asked after a moment of content silence, raising an eyebrow. "Huh. So that's why you jumped on me the second I got here. I might have to thank her."

"We'll send her a gift basket," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Can you two get a room?" Loke suddenly groaned.

"Oh, don't tell me you support this _hookup_ ," Gray spluttered. "He's had a rough time but that doesn't mean he can become a desperate, man-whore-"

"You shut the hell up," Lucy spat. "I thought you were better than that Gray. You of all people should-"

And then Juvia tackled her, happy tears striking down her face.

"Thank you," she sobbed, though whether it was t her friend, or some higher power was unclear. "Thank you thank you thank you."

As Juvia calmed, with the rest of the audience still completely perplexed as to what was happening, the scent of her tears began to fade, the cool air from above washing the smell away. And what was it about Juvia's tears...?

Ah. Right.

They had the overwhelming smell of salt.

Rogue had even resorted to pinching his nose, to stop the smell from invading his nostrils. (It was a weakness most Dragon Slayers had: overwhelming smells gave them migraines.) Sting himself looked a little nauseous. Instinctively, Yukino was moving forwards, her hand coming to gently rest on his forearm.

"You good?" She blurted, before slapping a hand over her mouth. Both looked at each other, held awkward eye contact for _one... two... three... four-_

"Lucy!" Juvia cried, crying happy, jubilant tears.

And the whole area went silent.

...

 _"Did she say her name?"_

 _"Oh, shit, I thought that was taboo?"_

 _"I'm pretty sure it is... Wait wait wait what if it was a mistake?"_

 _"I'm pretty sure_ that _wasn't a mistake."_

 _"Shit... What about Natsu?"_

And all eyes were on the pink-haired man, who as of late, had been very prone to being unstable, and being very, very (understandably) angry at even the barest hint of someone talking about _her_.

Natsu just smiled, the rush of finally, _finally_ kissing Lucy, his _mate_ (just thinking the damn word made him giddy) not lessening, even with everyone carefully watching him like he was a time bomb ticking down to its last final seconds. He just calmly wrapped his arms around Lucy's shoulders.

"Mine," he said stubbornly.

Juvia's eyes softened.

But she didn't let go. Not just yet.

Lucy blew at her hair again, resulting in her hair _still_ just staying in her face. Which then resulted in an adorable pout that Natsu laughed at. He ruffled her hair, sending her blond locks just _everywhere_. not to mention her laurel fell off, scattered somewhere among the dirt. She swiped at him. He stuck his tongue out, and Juvia's heart melted just about then.

It was... Just so comfortable. They looked like they'd been together forever.

It was almost as if the past two months had never even happened. Like sh'ed never left, like Natsu had never spiraled deep enough into his depression to self-destruct.

Like she'd never even died.

But, alas, all of those things had happened.

Sting's face had gone paper white. His pupils had dilated almost instantaneously, his eyes looking almost completely black. It was a common reaction for Slayers. When they latched onto a familiar scent, when they were scared. Angry.

And he certainly looked... menacing. Scary.

Frightened.

"Who are you?" He whispered. He pointed an accusing finger at her.

And then he was in front of her, though the most crowd would later say they hand't even seen him move. Crouched in front of her, he was approaching her as one would a wild animal. And it was _really,_ very embarrassing. Lucy could feel heat rushing into her cheeks, as _everyone_ watched them.

" _Who. Are. You."_

She swallowed roughly.

"Sting. It's _me._ "

"No, no no," he said, backing up. "She's dead. _You're dead,"_ he insisted.

"Yeah. I know."

Strong, gentle hands, presumably belonging to the figure who she had her back pressed against, were smoothing all her hair back, exposing her anxious face.

"Lucy," he breathed, dumbfounded. "What the hell?"

And then Gray spun on his heel, nearly falling over himself when the damn forbidden name was spoken.

"What did we say about saying her n-"

Gray never finished his thought. He stormed over, his face coming so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her face. (She had to keep a tight grip on Natsu's arm to keep him from snarling. Possessive instincts were hard to just stomp down and suppress. Especially for new mates.) Sting had been pushed to the side.

His eyes were wide and huge, and hers were soft and warm and _just so damn familiar it hurt._

Gray dropped to his knees in front of her.

 _"Impossible,"_ he breathed.

"Yeah," Lucy said in return, rubbing at her temples. She sighed.

 _Here comes the migraine._

"I know."

* * *

Every. Single. Screen. Zoomed in on her face; zeroed in on her completely lost expression.

 _Where to start? And, how to start? Just with a 'oh how have you guys been? Me? Oh, you know, same old same old. Died and came back reincarnated as a Spirit. No biggie." Yes, because that would go over so well in casual conversation._

But her thoughts were interrupted by the overwhelming noise.

There was a deafening roar. It echoed; bouncing off the marble walls.

People.

Were.

Going.

Crazy.

Practically all of Sabertooth was in tears, leaping over the railing. Then came Lyon from Lamina Scale. (He'd never believed in ghosts, not really. Never since complicated circumstances surrounding Ul's death.) Sherry was right behind him.

All of Fairy Tail was dead silent, unmoving. Eyes were wide, huge even, and not a sound came from them.

 _"Oh my god! Could it really be? Lucy Heartfilia?! She's returned from the dead!"_ The announcer came over the speakers in their booming voice.

"Hi Gray," Lucy greeted as she crouched to be at his eye level, the overly loud announcement making her flush. "Been a while huh?"

And with that, he sprang forward and caught her in a hug.

"Lucy," he rasped.

"You're dead," he sobbed into her shoulder, for once his hardened shell had cracked. "You're _dead._ "

"Yes." Was her short reply.

She shushed him quietly, as he cried into her shoulder. She rocked slowly back and forth on her heels, humming a lullaby she she'd always, _always_ been humming under her breath on the many nights they'd gone on overnight jobs, and _god did that only make him cry harder._

He only let so many people inside. There were only so many people that ever saw the soft side of Gray; the people he cared about the most. Sure, Fairy Tail was his family. But Lucy had been, or rather, _was_ different. She was... You know, that bond you have if you're twins? They were the same age, after all. And they had just felt... closer. Erza was like the over protective (not to mention terrifying) big sister he'd never had but...

He'd lost his family early in life. His father, and mother. Both gone in the blink of an eye. But he'd found someone else to take care of him, someone so fiercely protective and loving.

Then she'd died.

And then he'd come to Fairy Tail, and all had been right with the world.

Until that one mission. With Natsu rising from the pit, a bloody and unmoving Lucy cradled in his arms.

And then Natsu had laid her down, putting her head in his lap, and threw his head back.

And he wailed.

Natsu was screaming, tears streaking down his face. He had his neck buried in her neck, but her scent was overpowered by the salty smell of his tears and her blood.

Natsu didn't cry. Natsu didn't scream or slump in defeat like he was doing over Lucy's unmoving body. Erza didn't go wide eyed and collapse. Erza Scarlett was never brought to her knees by anything. Impossible. And Lucy... And Lucy didn't _die._ Lucy was the sunshine, starry-eyed girl who'd only just found a new family; who'd only just started living her life. That was when this new reality, the happy world he'd built up out of the ashes and ruins of his former life, had cracked.

And then shattered.

So now, as the broken shards were heating and melting and being reshaped into a whole, new creation, Gray allowed himself to lower _all_ his defenses. This was his family, this was his friend, the little sister he'd never had, all together again. This was happening. This was _real_.

"You never learn, do you Gray?" Lucy asked, tearing up herself. "Put some clothes on, you big dummy," she said, halfheartedly slapping his arm. "You might catch a cold," she joked. He snorted in spite of himself, as he cried and watery eyes she looked up to the stands, where Fairy Tail was. And so, because she no longer had her trademark pink guild mark, she made an L with her finger and pointed it towards the sun. The tradition they'd always had.

It was _her._

She was home.

* * *

Erza's long, scarlet, bright hair, the very thing she'd been named for, fell from her face in tendrils and even draped over Lucy's shoulders as as cried.

It was one big mess.

The games had come to an abrupt stop, and the crowd had been told they were prohibited from entering the center floor.

It was a miracle. At least, that was what most of them were calling it.

"Oh Mavis," Erza said, her tears dripping down her face, a torrent of saltwater pouring onto her lap. "Thank you." She kissed Lucy on the forehead, squeezing the blonde so intensely Lucy became lightheaded. Her ringlets of gold were shining, reflecting the sun and bouncing light off her head like a halo.

They were all crying. They were a hopeless, huge big mess, but they were one big mess all _together_ and at this point that was all that mattered. They were all one big hot mess, but they were a _family_ and no one really cared about all of that in the moment.

Levy was biting her thumb, sobbing into Lucy's shoulder. The angel was surrounded by people, leaning on her and sobbing and embracing. Natsu had tears of joy welling up in his eyes, and he had to physically restrain himself to keep himself from jumping on her and kissing her senseless. He kept one hand in hers though, because personal space be damned, there was no way he was letting go of her. Ever again.

"Guess those fairies really are invincible, huh?" Rogue asked softly, as he looked over the scene with gentle eyes.

Sting could only nod, watching on silently. It simply wasn't possible, no one wanted to say it, especially not with Natsu within hearing range, but it was the truth. The Dragon Slayers were all skeptical. But... Clones, copies, images of people didn't share a scent.

People were unique in smell and feel, and this Lucy... just _had_ to be the Lucy they'd known and loved. But she _couldn't be._

Miracles indeed.

* * *

 **Sorry I took forever to update!**

 **-Pyro**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **So guys...**

 **This month has been really hard for me. Sorry. But, I promise I'll try and do better with updating for the next chapter. Okay?**

 **Also: WARNING- THERE ARE SOME MENTIONS OF SEX {SORT OF, IT'S IMPLIED BUT NOT ACTUALLY} AND IF THAT MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE MAYBE READING THIS CHAPTER IS NOT THE BEST THING FOR YOU**

 **I love all of my readers, ut in particular I want to mention everyone who supported me since the last update:**

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* * *

Scooping her into his arms, he twirled her around, just to hear that cute little laugh.

The stands were practically deserted, as all the audience had been ushered out, and all the relevant Guilds (and by that I mean relevant to Lucy) had been called to stay. At that very moment, the last people were exiting and the gates were being shut.

Lucy looked embarrassed out of her mind, though she didn't seem to mind as much as she usually would. Not with Natsu spinning like a top and the only people to witness it were her friends. Levy was gushing, along with Mira who was daydreaming about little fire-breathing blonde babies.

Master Makarov clapped his hands, once, and the booming sound caused all the idle chatter to die down. All attention was called to the little man descending from the sky, as he leapt from the Fairy Tail section of the stands. He, of course, landed gracefully on his two feet, and brushed off his shoulder.

"Children," he greeted. "And friends," he said, nodding to the other people who had stayed.

"Today we have had a miracle bestowed upon us," he announced. "And while we, the most grateful of all, to have a member of our family returned to us. But... before celebrating, like Fairy Tail is so well known for," a few chuckled at that, looking at Cana in particular. "...we must think of the consequences of this miracle."

They went silent.

"...what?"

"Lucy here has been raised from the dead," Master said. "And while I am thrilled that we have recovered a lost nakama, we must step back and think about it: Miss Heartfilia has _cheated death._ " He enunciated the last two words slowly. "People, all throughout history, have tried to do this. Zeref himself managed ( **spoiler in case you're really far behind** ) to make himself immortal, but even that doesn't really get to the solution people want. He avoided the problem itself entirely, but it wasn't solution."

"So how is it that Lucy has been brought back from the dead? As far as I can see, there is no Necromancer controlling her, she is no ghost, as she seems to be perfectly solid in the arms of that idiot over there-" Lucy did flush this time, and Natsu grinned unabashedly back. "-and we all know that resurrection is impossible. So it begs to ask: Who. Is. That?" Master asked.

No one knew how to react.

"It's her," Gajeel finally spoke up, breaking the silence. "And I'm sure those two idiots," he nodded his head at Sting and Rogue "-and these two-" he jerked his thumb at Wendy and Laxus "-will agree with me."

Master made an inquisitive noise, for them to carry on.

"No two people ever have the same scent," Sting explained, shaking his head. "No way our noses would ever be fooled. And we've got seven of them here, to verify." They all nodded, save for Natsu. He was too busy looking torn between joining the other Dragon Slayers, or starting a new argument.

"Illusions, morphing magic, even ghosts, don't smell exactly like the people they replicate. Ghosts, while they are the same person, don't have the same physical body anymore. And Lucy," Sting said, pointing at the blonde girl who had since been let down and had crept closer to join the circle. "-smells exactly the same."

Master nodded, scratching his chin. He was satisfied. Partially.

"So then, how?"

"I'm a Spirit," Lucy said. "I'm a real, actual Spirit now, like with a key and everything. This isn't some wardrobe change, it's not like I've dressed like this for fun. These are-"

"They're part of her battle outfit, is what she really means."

It was Loke.

"Lucy woke up in the Spirit World, four weeks after her death, in her landmark (the structure that becomes their home) with no idea how she'd gotten there. In our time, that was maybe eight hours and ten minutes ago that she woke up. She's been through a lot today. So if you could please, _not_ push all this on her right now, that would be lovely."

"I'm just saying-"

"You're just saying what? That maybe she's not really Lucy? That maybe she just believes she is? Well I'm telling you that it's not true."

"I know that now, but I just wanted to consider all the possibilities-"

"While she was here? In front of everyone?"

"I just thorough perhaps-"

"Perhaps if she was a fake and went rogue, then we could all contain her? Was that it?"

Now he looked like he wanted to punch Gramps in the face. Lucy looked like _she_ was torn between crying and protesting in her defense.

"Natsu," Loke called over at him. He repeated what Gajeel had just done moments ago. He jerked a tub at Lucy, and caught his glance for a second.

"Get her out of here."

* * *

Lucy stared up at the sky; at the twinkling lights staring right back at her. Leaning over the balcony of the hotel room, on the twelfth floor no less, she wished she could just be... closer, to the stars. The dark velvet of the sky against the glinting diamonds embedded in the sky... it was beautiful.

Maybe it was because she was a Spirit now, and the stars and the sky stood for everything she was, but... She was entranced by it. She'd been a little obsessed before she'd... _died_ , but maybe she'd always been enraptured because she had been a Celestial Mage. A huge aspect of her life revolved around the stars, the planets.

Her Spirits really.

Or rather, her _ex_ -Spirits.

She felt a hand on her hip, and a chin coming to rest on her shoulder. Breaking away from her train of thought, she sighed and relaxed into the body pressing against hers. Her wings had disappeared into thin air as soon as she had stepped out of the arena. Though, she was sure they'd e there if she suddenly decided to dive off the balcony.

"I love you," she said. Natsu didn't respond, feeling that she wasn't done.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to saying that," Lucy said after a moment. She bit her lip. "I still can't believe that you... You chose _me."_

Lucy laughed in disbelief, shaking her head.

It was all hitting her now, the long chain of events that had transpired in the last few Earthland hours. She was exhausted now, and she just... felt _drained._ It all felt so surreal, with the quality that made it all so... much like a fantasy.

"It feels like a dream," Lucy said.

Natsu could smell the tears.

"It can't be real, or at least it feels that way," she confessed. "That you'd chose me over Lisanna, that you kissed me and that you want _me_ as your mate." She shook her head, laughing.

"I'm so afraid," she whispered.

"I'm so afraid that this isn't real and I'll just wake up in that arena, and you won't want me anymore," she sobbed. "I'm so scared that after this has been a dream, that I passed out after the fight with Juvia and-" she hiccuped. "Or that I'll wake up, and I'll be in heaven or hell or wherever it is dead people go because I never _got_ a second chance."

"I don't want to be dead," she finally whimpered, turning to bury her face in his chest.

"Shh," he said, rocking he back and forth. If she had looked up to see him, perhaps she would have caught the taken-aback look on his face. Aside from concerned, he was almost... surprised?

"Lucy," he said, cradling her shivering form. " _Lucy,_ " he repeated, his voice more insistent. She looked up at him, eyes glassy and miserable and his breath caught as he looked down at her, and an overwhelming wave of misery crashed into him. It was intense, so strong and unexpected, that it almost knocked him off his feet.

 _Mates,_ he internally marveled. _Ah, so that's what it's like._

Mates would be connected, always, in more ways than one. That was what Igneel had always told him. And Gajeel, and the twins. And this, their emotions intertwined, just made the whole ordeal more intimate. It was part of what made them closer than married people,

"I love you," he said, grinning, his canines sharp. "Lucy Heartfilia, I love you, more than you'll ever be loved, ever again," he swore.

"But what if you don't?" Lucy cried, weakly pounding her fist on his chest. "What if you don't love me? What if this isn't real, my second chance wasn't and isn't real. Natsu I'm not ready to die," she said brokenly, hiccuping. She was clinging to him, crying into his scarf almost hysterically now. He twirled a strand of her golden hair around her finger, eyes saddening.

"Lucy, you're ridiculous, but I love you anyway. If I love you? can you even hear yourself? Lucy, I _swear_ , I'll prove it to you if I have to, that this life is real, that _this,_ " he gestured at the two of them "-is real."

"And even if it is real, Natsu..." Lucy said, interrupting, with her greatest fear just on the tip of her tongue. He felt it too, the way the hairs on the back of his neck sudden;y stood on end. Her feelings wavered on the brink of sadness and apprehension, before plunging into pure fear.

"What about us?" She asked.

"What about us?" He asked back, now a bit unsure as to where this was going.

"...I'm a Spirit, Natsu. I can't stay here, not all the time anyway. I'll have to go back sometimes, and when I go I'll be gone for what feel like an hour, but will be three and a half days for you."

He snarled. He hadn't even thought of that and being separated from her for that long, for any interval of time really.

"I don't know if I can even leave you for an hour, Natsu, but the thought of you having to wait almost four days kills _me_ a little bit. How... how will we do this? How can you do this? i'm asking you to wait for me Natsu, I'm asking you to wait for me. And, that's a huge sacrifice that-"

"That I will make when the time comes to it," Natsu said.

"But Lucy, I'll just... What if I just come with you?" He asked. "When you go? What if I just go to the Spirit World with you? We know from that one time we lost three months at that party, that the Magic in the Spirit World won't kill humans."

She choked.

"Natsu, that'd be... Crazy. You'd be giving up like, half your life here. You would be leaving Fairy Tail behind, missing huge chunks from your life here at a time and I-"

"You are my life, idiot," he said, rolling his eyes, though with a smile. "Mates, you big dummy. I'd give up everything for you."

Lucy was crying again. Harder now.

 _Jeez, what was it with girls, it was like they could go from anything to crying with the flip of a switch!_

And Natsu was panicking.

"What did I do? Lucy, tell me what to do and how to make it better!" Natsu was almost working himself into hysteria at this point. "What did I say? Gah, I'm such an idiot, Lucy I promise I didn't mean to make you cry!"

And oh Mavis, did that only make her cry harder.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" Lucy cried into his shoulder. Natsu was still completely lost.

"...can we go to bed?" Lucy asked, quickly changing the subject, almost pouting. His heart just about melted at that.

"Yes," he said, kissing her forehead. And then he went lower to capture her lips, his tongue almost immediately invading her mouth. She separated them much too early, for his liking, pulling away with a knowing smirk.

And so, she twirled on her toes and gave him a wink, before turning to head back inside.

"I do believe I said go to bed, not go to _sleep._ "

Natsu smirked back, beginning to unwrap the scarf from his neck.

"Yep, I heard you..." He clambered over onto the bed, hovering over her. She giggled, reaching up to unwrap the strip of shite material from his neck. He nuzzled his face in her neck, pressing kisses into her skin starting at her jaw.

" _Loud. And. Clear."_

* * *

He woke up, the bright light filtering through the window, shining right into his eyes. He blinked, blearily turning his head from side to side. He shook his head, waiting for sleep to release its hold on him. He yawned, stretching his arms out.

Or at least, that's what he tried to do.

His right arm had that unpleasant fuzzy feeling, which always came with one of his limbs that had fallen asleep being jolted. He groaned before looking down, ready to chastise Happy for sleeping directly on top of him.

But instead, there was a pretty blonde, her head resting on his bicep, with her face pressed into his bare chest. Natsu didn't react, and could only stare, dumbfounded at the sight in front of him. She was sound asleep, with her bra and underwear on, clinging to his hand. He was shirtless, in his boxers and his bare arm wound around Lucy. His scarf was hung around the bed post, where it had been haphazardly tossed during the events of last night.

( _Not_ sex. Just... very intimate, let's put it that way.)

He just kind of stared at her, in awe, his hand automatically going to stroke her hair.

She made a noise, and her eyelids fluttered open.

"Shit," he cursed. "Lucy, did I wake you?"

She just blinked at him, her head buzzing. When the sleep had cleared from her vision, she looked once down at herself, and then once at him.

Strangely enough, she reacted to her almost-naked body pressed against Natsu's almost-naked body in a very un-Lucy-like manner. Instead of making an embarrassingly cute noise and squealing some nonsense about putting their clothes back on, and then scrambling out of bed, she was rather calm.

She smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Mmm, g'morning Natsu," she said, stumbling over her words. He kissed her forehead, cradling her closer to him. It was a pleasant surprise, that he wasn't going to have to deal with her hurting herself whilst frantically clambering out of bed, and then coax her back into said bed.

"Morning, beautiful," he said. She pulled back and gave him a surprised look.

"Oh, and when did you become such a sap?" She teased. He rolled his eyes.

"Oh, tell me you don't love it," he finally said. She laughed, pulling him in for another kiss, this time a proper one on the lips.

"I didn't say that," she admitted. Natsu was silent for a moment, before delving into more serious territory. He sat up, and she followed suit.

"When you died, I think," he said. Lucy went silent, her smile slowly being wiped from her face. "I didn't like confronting emotions, Lucy. Especially my own. I was just... kind of 'going with the flow,' or at least that's how Mira put it. But then you died and I-"

"...you saw my body, after the accident, didn't you Natsu?" Lucy asked, a bit afraid of the answer she was going get.

"I carried you out of there, Luce," he said. "I carried you out of there and I just remember screaming with your blood on my hands and your _dead body_ in my arms."

" _Oh,"_ Lucy breathed. "Natsu you- I'm so s-"

"If you so much as _try_ to apologize to me I swear I will-"

"I-"

"Nope, don't want to hear it," Natsu deadpanned, and his tone was final.

"It was after that, that I knew living in the moment, pushing it all off for later wasn't going to work. I was going to have to just.. get it all out in the open. I don't want to go with regrets, Luce. I'm going to damn well tell you how much I love you every minute I can because I'll never know if it's the last time I'll be able to say it."

"Natsu, I-"

"Just let me finish. I mean Lucy, I knew you were the only one for me a _long_ time ago. But that didn't mean I was the one for you. Mates... Fate is cruel like that sometimes; when your mate doesn't necessarily have to love you back. And I... was so _sure_ , I thought I knew, that that was the case for me and... all of a sudden it wasn't, and you weren't there anymore."

"I'm sor-"

"Lucy!" He burst, lauging. "Just lemme finish, okay?" She nodded.

"I love you, and... I'm going to let the whole world know now. Alright?"

She nodded, biting her lip, with happy tears in her eyes.

"Okay."

* * *

Lucy groaned.

 _You've gotta be kidding me right now._

A parade.

They were throwing her a parade.

 _I. Swear. To. God._

She'd known it was a mistake to get out of bed this morning. But Natsu had insisted, saying that Erza had told him there would be a 'surprise' for Lucy outside of the hotel.

Apparently, he had been left out of the loop as well, as he looked about as surprised as she felt. His eyebrows were slowly rising, climbing up his face just a bit more with each passing second. He didn't know whether to laugh, as Lucy wore an expression slightly resembling one of someone who had just been whacked in the face with a frying pan, or demand _what the hell were they thinking?_

It was a frenzy of bright colors, grandiose magnificent floats that were so extravagant they bordered ridiculousness. Oh, who were they kidding? Ridiculous was a line that had long ago been crossed. It was like one long line of celebrations, filled with people she'd known, people she'd never met, and people who she'd barely spoken to in passing.

It was insane, though this _was_ coming from Fairy Tail, so what else could the outcome have been? With this bunch, it was go big, or go home.

Lucy swore.

 _Well, fuck._

* * *

They had demanded a speech.

The parade had stopped in front of the beach, where all the people had quieted enough so all that was heard was the occasional crashing of the waves on the sand. There, Lucy was (forcibly) brought to the front, her hands nervously twisting her pretty silk dress and crushing one of the pink roses she'd picked from one of the floats.

 _"You need to make a speech," Erza had breathed into her ear before casually flouncing back into the crowd._

 _So Lucy cleared her throat, and straightened her spine, the habit all her tutors had eventually pounded into her, and began to speak._

 _"I owe you a great thanks, all of you, for what you did for me and for my family in their time of need. Thank you for watching over them when I couldn't, though me watching over them has never made much of a difference anyway," Lucy said, eyeing Erza in particular. Some had the guts to laugh outright. Other didn't. It was a joke, one that Lucy was now regretting, as she had apparently executed it wrong._

 _"I know that word around here spreads fast, but I am not of this world anymore. I have become a Spirit, and my key has been put into service under my old friend, Yukino of Sabertooth," Lucy said, gesturing at the Celestial Mage in the crowd. "And I have found my mate, Natsu Dragneel. I have my friends, well, my family really, and my now fellow Spirits."_

 _So she raised her glass to the stars, hoping her fellow Spirits were watching. And then began the dancing._

* * *

As the sky had begun to shift from orangey-red to blue-indigo, they stumbled off the floats with enough grace and poise for people passing by to think they were drunk. And in a way, they were. Drunk off of pure happiness and pansy feelings and just overwhelming joy, in a sickening cliché, movie-montagey way.

They were high off relief, relief to be able to celebrate the return of someone they had lost. They were complete fools, giggling and stumbling over their words and slurring their words. Not all of them were actually drunk, though those who were embraced it and wore it like it was theirs. (aka Cana)

Lucy, however, was a different type of tipsy.

There was a faint buzzing in her ears, the strange hazy yellow film over her field of view, and her mouth tasted of ash. She tottered in the shoes she wore, though they were nothing compared to some of the colossal heels she'd easily run in before. It was strange, but suddenly her stomach lurched and her vision was swimming with black dots and _oh look here comes the floor._

Lucy's knees buckled, and she didn't even have time to even brace herself for the fall. She nearly hit her head on the cobblestones, and would have bashed her head into the street had Natsu not swooped in to cradle her fall.

"Lucy?" He said, tapping her face, worried.

He'd seen his guild mates pass out on the streets after parties like this, drunk off their ass and then snoozing on the sidewalk. But Lucy hadn't even had anything to drink, to his knowledge, so what on earth...?

But then her body began to convulse, and he would _swear_ that her hand has begun to go transparent around the edges.

"Loke!" He bellowed over his shoulder. "Yukino!"

Both rushed over, completely sober (in actuality, the only big drinker from Fairy Tail had been Cana, as expected), and completely worried. Loke's look of panic was completely replaced.

By something bearing resemblance to wild, uncontrollable fear.

"Give her to me!" He shouted, with increasing urgency. Natsu handed her over, as he was completely out of his depth with this one. "Yukino," he nearly screamed back over his shoulder. "I don't have enough magic for the two of us, I've been out too long! Call someone, anyone!" Yukino nodded, knowing exactly what was happening. So she brandished the key from her belt, the golden key of Virgo.

"Open! Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!" Yukino screamed shrilly, nearly hysterical as Lucy began to fade around the edges. They knew what this was, Yukino and Loke. Though Yukino had never seen it personally, Lucy had told her all about it. (Not that she'd needed to; it had become sort of a legend among Celestial Wizards.)

Lucy was fading from existence. Her magic was running out. It was evaporating into the Earthland air, and soon she'd disappear. Loke had been an old Spirit, with a lot of practice and endurance to the strain of being in the human world. Lucy, however, was a newborn Spirit. She should have been running on empty since the end of her duel.

"She's disappearing," she frantically shouted at the pink haired maid who had seemingly materialized out of thin air. Virgo didn't even waste time nodding, she simply grabbed the unconscious (presumably, as she seemed to be unmoving). Virgo just grabbed Lucy from Loke, hefting the limp figure into her deceivingly strong arms, and began to shimmer, as her Gate was closing. Loke himself, pale from the stress and his magic slowly running out (his fight with Juvia had been quite taxing), began to glow too, as he began to close his own gate.

Natsu, in the split second before they disappeared, made his decision. He lunged and latched onto Loke's arm.

All four figures vanished, leaving to trace behind in the dimly lit street.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I am _so_ sorry that it took me so long to update! _Again!_ Man, I hope you all had a seriously Merry Christmas! I meant to update then, and leave it as a Christmas present to all of you. :( I'm so sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you have or had an awesome New Year, and best of luck to you in 2016!**

 **See you next year!**

 **-Pyro**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Guys.**

 **Okay, let me start with I'm sorry. Also, again, I won't be doing specific responses to reviews. Just because it slows me down, and lord knows I take long enough as it is.**

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 **Okay, so someone brought up a good point recently that I haven't done basically _any_ Sting and Yukino storyline in a while, so I'm just letting you all know that that's the majority of this chapter. I know I've been a bit too NaLu recently, and I know that StingYu needs a little attention. **

**I hope you like it!**

* * *

She'd been weak, so incredibly weak, when her knees had buckled and she'd just begun to disappear, and fade away. She'd gone paper white, going limp like a dead fish in his arms one moment, and suddenly Loke had whisked her away the next. But no way was he letting her out of his sight _any_ time soon.

And Natsu had probably never been so scared in his life, excluding of course the time she had actually died.

"What do we do?" He asked, turning to Loke

But the minute she had been exposed to the atmosphere in the Spirit World, she had almost immediately begun to regain some color. Her skin took on a healthier glow, the rosy glow to her cheeks returned.

All over the course of less than a minute.

One minute turned into two. Two turned into five. Five turned into ten.

And then, eleven minutes later, Natsu was still sitting next to her, holding her hand, his leg bouncing up and down, with hands jittery. But then her eyelids fluttered, he'd _swear_ he'd seen her long eyelashes just barely beat against her cheekbones, like the flap of a butterfly's wings.

And suddenly she gasped, shooting upright.

Gulping in mouthfuls of air, Lucy felt like a fish that had been marooned on land, only to suddenly have been thrust into the water just hanging by a thread.

* * *

Yukino was pretty sure Rogue was eyeing her warily, if the brief sideways glance she'd given him was anything to go by. He kept glancing out of the corner of his eye, though not nearly as inconspicuously as he thought he was. And he looked almost afraid, or rather, _wary_ of her. Like she was one of those glass doors, fragile and pale and _helpless_.

Frankly, it was annoying. Really, really amazingly irritatingly annoying.

He gave her the look that everyone had become accustomed to giving Natsu up until very recently.

It made her very suspicious.

"Way to be subtle, Rogue," she said lowly out of the corner of her mouth.

He startles, dropping his glass and just spilling milk all over his front.

Sure, he can sneak up on someone in the dead of night, disarm and disable them along with a dozen other enemies without making a sound within a matter of minutes when a mission calls for it, but subtle hovering? Forget about it. He's useless. She scoffs at the very though, nearly smirking at her own thought.

 _Boys._

She realizes she's spoken aloud when she looks at him and is greeted by what could only be described as a disgruntled affronted look. She giggles in spite of the face he is making at her (some odd mix exasperated fake smile, a grimace, and ' _are you kidding me'_ all bundled up into one expression), and shakes her head.

"Aww Rogue, don't make that face at me," she says, returning his pout. He's kind of cute like that, all sulky and disgruntled. And for a moment, they are pouting at each other like petulant children.

It was hard to say who laughed first. But now, they were bent over, Yukino giggling with reckless abandon (if there even is such a thing: 'reckless giggling') and Rogue guffawing, banging his fist into the table. Everyone in the restaurant was gaping at the strange pair, but neither could bring themselves to care.

Yukino wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye, sobering up enough to grab the napkin from her lap and start dabbing at his shirt. She was all over him, fussing over him like he did when she got hurt on missions.

"Only you, a practically grown man with enough power to level this city, would dump warm milk all over yourself. Only you Rogue," she said, shaking her head. He sniffed at her, playfully of course.

"Hey! Well _someone_ startled me!" Rogue protested, as he rose from his chair. They'd already paid the bill, and as they left, Yukino couldn't help but feel a little... sad. Reminiscent really. This would be the time where Sting would sling his arm around his brother and ruffle his hair, and Rogue would grumble about it, swatting him away, even though Yukino knew he didn't really mind it.

But Sting... well, he wasn't exactly around anymore.

"Yes, only as you were greatly unsuccessful at your attempt in watching me," Yukino retorted smoothly, not letting her train of thought interrupt their argument. Rogue... well, he had nothing to say to that. They rounded the street corner, sitting on a beautiful marble fountain. They'd heard the news from Loke, that Lucy was going to be okay. Now that there was nothing to do but wait, they'd decided to just go and eat and try and calm down.

"Well I-"

"Speaking of which, is there any particular reason you've been eyeing me like I'm a china doll?" Yukino said, quirking a single dainty eyebrow at him. "You're watching me like you're afraid I'll fall apart, and your stupid brother won't even look at me, much less engage in a conversation-" Yukino's voice cracked at the very mention of the blonde who was avoiding her like the plague. And suddenly her throat was uncomfortably tight and her eyes were going glassy.

Rogue probably would have pushed it a little... if Yukino didn't look like she was actually about to crumple in on herself like he'd feared.

Rogue was beginning to panic. Crying girls? _So_ not his territory.

But he'd always had a soft spot for this girl, petite and powder blue and he supposed if the situation called for it... he'd live with it. And be useful. Well, as useful as a boy could be when there was a crying girl involved in the equation.

But Yukino wasn't crying now. She wasn't sobbing and choking on her tears, with sadness burning in her eyes. She wasn't throwing her head back in despair, just bordering the edge of hysteria. Like she had been that night Rogue had seen her from his balcony. Or that time Sting had stumbled upon her.

Perhaps that would have been easier.

Because now, she just stood there, pale and sad and just... quiet. It felt like the calm before the storm, and the anticipation made Rogue uneasy. If she'd been crying without a single ounce of resistance in her, he would have known what to do. (To an extent.) He'd hold her and hug her like a big brother would his little sister. This, however, was unpredictable. It was a wild card, a prediction that he could not make, and even if he could, there was no way to prepare for that.

But now, with her eyes suddenly looking much darker and devoid of anything other than sadness, and her hands clasped tightly in her lap, he had no idea what to do. She just looked frail, and so very alone and _dear god what should he do?_

He decided to go with the hug. Turns out, it wasn't such a bad idea.

He crushed her to his chest, and suddenly her small frame was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

She quivered in his arms, and for a moment she just let it all rise to the surface, burying her face into his shirt. It was comforting, the scent that she'd become so accustomed to over the years. So she let her wall down, and cried.

And cried.

And cried.

She bunched the material of his shirt in her hands, just by his collarbone. She just needed something, anything, to anchor herself. To keep herself from drifting away and drowning in the despair.

"Why?" Was all she said. Over and over.

"I can't-" a sob ripped through her, and she clutched at the tear-stained fabric of his shirt, curing in on herself. "It hurts so much Rogue," she sobbed. "I wish I could hate him. I want to _so bad_ but I-" she hiccuped. "Your. Stupid. _Brother_." She spat out each word with venom he'd never seen before; with hostility he hadn't thought she was capable of.

She was writhing, as if she were in real, physical pain.

"God I'm such-" she hiccuped. She wiped angrily at her tears, as she now straddled a thoroughly befuddled (and slightly pink) Rogue. "I'm such an idiot. I'm such an idiot for ever- for ever even thinking-" She cut herself off with a bitter laugh. She leaned back, one leg dangling over the edge over the open air, and the other half in the freezing cold water. Sitting squarely in Rogue's lap, cold and wet and tears making her face stiff, Yukino had never felt more like a fool.

A stupid, useless fool.

"I'm sorry," she finally deadpanned. She began lifting herself off of of him, whose jumbled brain was just beginning to catch up.

"Hey! You can't just cry and get up and decide to-" he began to protest, grabbing her wrist and holding it tight to his chest. But she was caught off balance, and then they both went tumbling off to the side. Yukino first, then Rogue closely following. The first thing they felt was a shocking jolt of pain.

Oh, you thought they would fall into the water?

Mhm, yeah, no.

Yukino gasped, face scrunching up in pain. And for once, she really, _really_ understood how muscular Rogue was. He'd landed squarely on her left hand, and she'd heard a sickening _crunch_. And by the looks of it, he'd heard it too. Jerking on instinct, she snapped her right elbow up.

Hitting him right in the face.

And if the blood now gushing out of his nose was any indication, she'd broken it.

Crap.

Yet, through the pain, she still laughed. They were howling next to each other on the ground, Yukino cradling her hand, with her slim fingers twisted at odd angles, and Rogue, trying not to choke on blood trickling into his mouth.

"You think you could keep this on the down low? Any way your brother never has to hear about this?" Yukino asked hopeful. Rogue laughed.

"Please, I don't think we could keep this from him if we tried. And besides, you smell like tears, I smell like _your_ tears, and your scent is all over my chest and uh-" he coughed, silently going through his entire vocabulary, searching for a more eloquent way to phrase it.

"Your crotch," she supplied helpfully. He gave her a look.

"Yeah, that. And You've got what looks like a broken hand, my nose is broken, and both of us are covered in my blood."

She sighed.

"So, that's a no then."

* * *

Their luck was absolutely abysmal.

Her heels broke.

Or at least, one of them did. She'd been wobbling towards their hotel, when her heel got caught on the cobblestones, she twisted her ankle, and her right shoe was history. Strangely enough, they were still both in a relatively good mood. They were preoccupied laughing at themselves and their rotten luck.

He'd simply shook his head at her, and with the pain in his nose had subsided only a little, he'd picked her up with a smile. They were quite the sight, he assumed.

They waltzed into the hotel lobby, full of Sabertooth and Fairy Tail members alike, like they owned the damn place.

They were ignored, after Rogue sent them a glare telling them _not now._

And several flights of stairs later, and one grueling encounter with Master Makarov, they were at Rogue's room's door. He rummaged around his pockets, fumbling for the keys.

"You okay?" She asked. "and thank you, by the way. Again. You really did't have to do this. Carrying me all the way here from the park." He snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Yukino, I broke your hand, you've probably got a sprained ankle, and there's no way you can take care of this yourself right now. I have my first aid kit here, it's not problem. Besides, Virgo's probably busy right now, making sure Lucy's alright." She hated when he was right.

"...ugh. I hate it when you're right," she grumbled, crossing her arms. He smirked, winking at her.

"Guess you hate me all the time then huh?"

"...I think your brother is a bad influence on you."

They both sobered at that. Finally unlocking the door without dropping Yukino, Rogue kicked the door open.

"Rogue? Dude, you back already?" They heard a voice call from the bathroom.

 _Crap crap crap crap_

"Uh-"

"Dude where the hell have you been? God, I've been losing my mind. I'm _so lonely_ and I think that Yukino's really mad at me and man-" he opened the door, his boxers hanging low on his hips.

Before continuing, perhaps we should do a headcount of all the articles of clothing, among other things, that were on Sting's body at the moment.

One: his earring.

Two: his boxers.

End of list.

Rogue felt that he should have a) considered the possibility that Sting would be here when they got back and b) at least tried to straighten up the appearance a little bit. He was still all bloody, and so was she. All down their fronts. She was cradling her hand against her chest, and her heels were dangling from her good hand. Her ankle was swollen, his nose bet at a strange angle. Half her skirt was dripping wet, getting water all over their floor.

Yukino just blinked at him, her mouth open, but no words coming out. Sting's left eye twitched, taking in nothing but Yukino's bloody front. The murderous look he gave his brother said it all, and their silent conversation made Yukino nervous.

"It's not my blood," Yukino said, though she was sure his nose had told him that already.

Rogue thrust his arms out, offering Sting the girl.

Sting took her into his arms, and Yukino shot Rogue a dirty look. _You filthy traitor._ But then she turned, and her head was tucked perfectly between his chin and his neck and he smelled like home and every coherent thought flew out the window. Relaxing into him, Yukino sighed contently.

"She has a sprained ankle," Rogue supplied rather unhelpfully. "And I think I broke her hand."

"You _what, wait you-_ "

"Sting?" Yukino asked, peering up at him through thick lashes. "Can I wash up? Take a shower?" Well there was no way he could ever deny her something, especially with her looking up at him like that. He was struggling to keep up; and it didn't really help that this was the first time he'd spoken to her since her little episode, and all he could focus on were her lips, which were suddenly much pinker and fuller than he remembered.

"Of course. Do you want me to look a that had though? And your ankle, how are you going to take a shower?" Sting asked, his voice instantly softer. Yukino shrugged noncommittally, hoping she didn't look as flustered as she felt.

"I'll take a bath. Besides, take a look at Rogue's nose, alright? I'm pretty sure I broke it."

And with that, she daintily hoped down form his arms, as best she could on one leg anyway, and used the wall to support her into their bathroom. When she shut the door behind her, Sting turned on his brother accusingly.

"Talk."

* * *

Sting wasn't sure whether to laugh or be seriously concerned.

"You- she- You broke her hand by _falling_ on it?"

"Hey, well you're the one who asked, and you know, she _broke my nose_. And hey, I think it might have just been two fingers."

"Rogue, I am seriously struggling to fight the urge to kill you."

"I know protective instincts are ranging as high as your testosterone levels, but Sting, calm down. Don't think she'd appreciate it. Also-" Sting was pinching the bridge of his nose, clearly thinking of something at least mildly unpleasant.

"You are aware that I can smell her all over you right? She's all over your chest and your crotch and man, I promise I'm really trying hard here but I'm struggling just a little bit."

"Sting," Rogue said with a deep sigh. He sat down on his bed, his nose taped and set in place. (Thank god they'd had the experience with this, and had done it enough times on their own to not need help.)

"She cried. A lot. It was... really hard to watch, actually," Rogue admitted, picking at his fingernail. "I didn't get most of it- well I actually didn't get _any_ of it but I know when she mentioned 'my stupid brother' it got about ten times worse," Rogue said, leaning back, gauging his brother's reaction.

"Me? What the hell did I do?" Sting asked, rubbing his temples with a weary look on his face. "I know... I know that we treated her badly back then. But we were _happy_ Rogue. All of Sabertooth was when the Games were over and Minerva left. And I upset her before the Games started but I've thought of everything, _anything_ that would make her so upset with me. And now I've really upset her again, but the problem is: I haven't spoken to her enough recently _for_ me to have upset her."

He sat next to his brother, harshly exhaling.

"Girls are so difficult?" Sting whined after a moment, slouching into his pillow. Burying his face in his blanket, he groaned.

"Hey, you're the one hopelessly in love with one," Rogue pointed out. Sting groaned, rolling over.

"Ugh. 'Love.' You say it like that's all I feel," Sting scoffed. Rogue groaned internally.

 _Ah shit. Here comes the speech again._

Rogue had heard this lecture. Several times. From several people. Several meaning Natsu, Gajeel, even Laxus had given him some variation of this speech. Some shtick about ' _love doesn't even compare to what I feel'_ or _'You just don't understand because it hasn't happened to you yet.'_ You would have thought he'd learned his lesson by now, right?

But surprising enough, Sting continued with something that Rogue had yet to hear.

"I mean... I don't understand love, but it's a word that some people throw around so carelessly nowadays and... I'm not really sure what to call what I feel," Sting admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "I've never been in love so, I wouldn't know what to compare this to. Maybe it is love, but how would I know? I just... I think Yukino deserves a better word than that, you know?"

Rogue stared at him, unblinking, as his eyebrows scrunched together slowly.

"Who the fuck are you and where's Sting?" Rogue deadpanned.

"Hey dude, what the hell?"

* * *

Yukino didn't really know what she'd been thinking when she stepped out of their bathroom, a cloud of steam escaping once she'd opened the door. But what was a girl to do? She didn't have any clothes besides the ones she'd come in with, which were bloody and damp.

So naturally, she'd just taken the shirt that had been hanging off of the shower rod and gone with that. It was big on her, thank god for that, so her underwear didn't _really_ show if she didn't raise her arms too high.

Now, she was biting the inside of her cheek and cursing her judgement error. With her room key firmly in her hand, she was seriously contemplating if she could hobble all the way to her room without being seen.

 _Crap._

* * *

When Yukino stepped out of their bathroom in Sting's favorite shirt and not a whole lot else, Rogue froze, panicked and nearly spontaneously combusted all at once.

He coughed, suddenly bent over at the waist, turning a rather flattering shade of dark pink.

 _I did **not**_ _need to see that much of Yukino. EVER._

But that didn't mean he drew his eyes away from her slim hips, or her really, _really_ long legs that he somehow hadn't noticed until just this second. Or the way her cheeks were flushed and her chest was rising and falling rapidly-

And then they locked eyes and he'd never felt more awkward in his life.

His eyes bugged, as he made a series of complicated hand gestures clearly read as ' _Do NOT let Sting see you GET OUT.'_ Rogue was near desperate, eyes wide and his hands flapping about frantically. Yukino nodded, understanding perfectly. (Well, not _why_ she needed to get out, but she understood the gestures well enough.)

"-and she's just _so..._ Ah, I don't even know what she is but I think I fall for her a little more every time I'm around her and if that's love, then so be it. You know?" Sting was still rambling at the ceiling, hands knit and golden in his lap. With his legs stretched out, leaving him in the classic undergoing therapy pose, Rogue might have laughed if the situation hadn't been so dire.

Yukino, upon hearing just the smallest fraction of his long speech, gasped, and was determined to make it to her room before the tears fell. So she took the first bound towards the door, futilely hoping to run to the door before Sting saw her or before she really let the tears fall.

And then her busted ankle came into play and she ended up sprawled over their carpet.

"Ah!" She cried out, her one good hand flying down to clutch her injured ankle.

"Shit," Sting swore, leaping over his brother, practically catapulting into the air and landing at her side.

"Rogue," she said, suddenly feeling about ten years younger; ten years more helpless. "Can you fix my hand?" Rogue's hear clenched.

"No." he deadpanned after a moment.

"I don't know what happened. Honest to god, I have _literally_ no idea how he fucked up so badly or why you look like you seriously consider hurling yourself off a bridge every time you see him. But I love you both, really, I do." When Sting _growled_ at his brother's use of the word love in regards to the blue haired Celestial Mage, Rogue kicked him the side. Hard.

"Sting, for _fuck's sake not now,_ " Rogue snarled.

"Yukino, he's an idiot. He's a _real_ idiot, believe me I know." Rogue pointedly ignored his brother's scowl. "And we've treated you badly in the past, I know. I know that there are things, words, that we brought up and threw in your face back then, and I know you will never, _ever_ forget some of the things we did to you and-" He cut himself off, taking deep breaths to try and get his heart rate under control. And somehow, Yukino had gone from slightly miffed to crying not buckets, not a river, but a freaking typhoon in a couple of seconds.

"Just, just _tell_ him what he did wrong. Kino," he said, voice growing softer as he used her old child nickname. She shook her head stubbornly through the tears. "Please. You hate him, I get it. But he's a good guy, you know he is. And yeah, he's a fuckup, but you've been avoiding him since before Lucy died. And just... he's trying, Kino. He really is. But before you sentence him to death, just tell him what he-"

"Mates," Yukino spit, tears spilling over her eyes and down her face. His eyes went wide; disbelieving.

"You found your mate and god _I hate you,_ " she shrieked. Her hands were squeezing her head, hard. Like the more pressure she put on her brain the less her heart would hurt. She squeezed her eyes shut, the tears coming much faster now.

 _Nononono don't cry Yukino! Please, just-_ Sting's thoughts were a jumbled mess, juggling the possibilities of what he could have done to hurt her so badly, and the fact that Yukino was crying, and that she knew and-

 _FUCK._

 _SHE KNEW._

"You- you know?" Sting stuttered, his voice wavering.

"Yeah," Yukino said, finally wincing when her voice cracked. Hanging her head low, she tried to fight off the images of some leggy blonde hanging off of Sting's arm, with him laughing and smiling and looking completely _smitten._

"I uh- I heard you talking to Rogue about it," Yukino offered, her lips suddenly unbearably dry. She felt a ramble coming on, and prayed that she'd just keep her mouth shut and- "And uh- well I don't- I just couldn't be around you and I swear I'm trying, I am but _it's so hard to be around you and I don't know what to do!"_ Yukino sobbed.

Falling into Sting's arms, Yukino only felt worse, now that she just... she knew what it felt like in his arms; she knew what she didn't and wouldn't ever have.

Sting felt like he'd been run over. Rammed into a wall a thousand times just to find himself falling and having his heart ripped out and lit on fire in front of him.

"I can't to this," Sting finally said, pushing her away.

She... she _knew_ and she couldn't even _stand_ being around him anymore. She was... _disgusted._ She must have been. He was... _creeping_ on her, like some sort of sicko.

"I- I'm sorry," Yukino blurted out and apology, _still_ crying. "I'm... I'm gonna go now," she said, deflated, as she picked herself up and went to the door. Rogue, too blown away by the revelation that his brother had just gotten his heart broken _for the rest of his life_ , didn't move to argue that her fingers were still broken.

"She- she must be wonderful," Yukino said, pausing at the front door. Turning back, she flashed them an uncertain smile. Her teeth, pearly white,

"She must be the most perfect girl in the entire universe if she's got you wrapped around her finger like that," Yukino said flatly, biting the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood. "Take care of her for me."

And with that, she slammed the door behind her, leaving nothing in her wake but Sting, whose tears slipped down his pale skin, as he stared off dazedly. Brokenly. Rogue, speechless, stared along with his brother at the closed door. But then her words, which had been ringing in their ears, repeating over and over again, finally made it up to their (microscopic) brains and-

"What, _what?!"_

* * *

 **Hope you guys liked it! Leave a review and tell me how you liked it! I know I haven't been doing much Sting and Yukino but I promise I'll change that from now on! Thank you all for still keeping up with this story!**

 **-Pyro**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Okay guys! Shit, I know that I totally haven't updated in forever but it totally slipped my mind! Anyway so thank you to everyone that** **follows/favorited/reviewed this story of my other Fairy Tail Fic, Stronger:**

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* * *

There was nothing but empty silence in her head. It was deafening, and strange, how utterly crushing and devastating since could be. It left her mind blank, like that of a zombies. She was cold. So, _so_ cold, from the tips of her fingertips and to her bare feet.

And then she had only one thought, no, a _need_ , a burning desire to run. Adrenaline was pumping through her, and all feeling was overpowered by her desire to just escape. She didn't feel the throbbing of her ankle, of the soreness of her fingers. Just her broken heart, in which the hole was getting bigger with each passing second she stayed in that hallway.

So she ran like a bat out of enough for her to go lightheaded and for the edges of her vision to blur and fast enough for it to _really fucking hurt_ when she hurled herself down the stairs and plummeted two stories.

"Yukino?" Asked a bewildered voice from her left. "Yukino are you- Yukino! You're crying! Are you okay?" The small Dragon Slayer asked, eyebrows furrowing together with worry. Wendy.

"I sprained by ankle," Yukino gasped through the pain. "And my fingers. I broke my fingers. My shoulder might be dislocated," Yukino said, through gritted teeth. "Oh god Wendy, please help me," Yukino pleaded, half exhausted and half desperate. "Wendy I-"

"Shh," Wendy shushed her softly. "I'm going to take you to my room, okay? Just, here," Wendy said as she offered a hand to the older distressed girl. Yukino made a noise in the back of her throat in agreement. She slung an arm around Wendy's shoulder, and was surprised at the deceptive strength that this little girl had. Then Wendy was swearing under her breath, realizing her room was four floors up and there was no way to get her there.

"D'you need help with that?" Came a gruff voice behind them. Wendy nearly sagged with relief.

"Yes! Oh thank you! Laxus, can we take her to you room?" Wendy asked, already knowing the menacing Dragon Slayer would of course, help them. (He might have seemed like a big scary guy, but really, he was a huge softie when it came to the little Sky Dragon Slayer.)

Though Yukino couldn't see it, her head lolling to the side, Laxus nodded.

"Give her to me."

Suddenly Yukino was lifted into the strong arms of the Lightning Dragon Slayer, who was carefully making his way to his room.

"Yukino? Yukino stay with me," Wendy said calmly though concerned, as she'd done this dozens of times. She'd slipped into 'doctor mode,' as everyone else had dubbed it, without even might have found it almost amusing if he weren't so concerned about the other Dragon Slayer's Mate. She tapped her face lightly, and Yukino's eyes rolled into the back of her head. Though she couldn't see it, Wendy and Laxus exchanged worried glances.

"Yukino? Yukino? Yukino just focus on my voice okay?" Wendy said worridely, as Laxus was lowering her onto his bed. "Yukino I need you to open your eyes for me, can you do that? Yukino look at me," Wendy order once again. Yukino, mustering all of her strength, cracked an eyelid open. Wendy nodded, exhaling.

"Looks like you need to be healed and rest, okay? You've put your body under too much stress," Wendy said, her hands suddenly glowing with a spell on her lips.

Opening her mouth to protest, Yukino was about to interject, to argue that really, she was fine and she just needed help getting up. But Wendy had already laid her hands on Yukino's forehead, and suddenly she was drifting, floating. Dreaming. Wendy was speaking low, too low for any human ear to catch, and Laxus was nodding, with a contemplative look on his face. Then he nodded, agreeing with her.

"Sleep," Wendy murmured, already starting to work on her hand. The bones were realigning, healing nicely. Then taking a look at her ankle, which was only swelling more, Wendy lookout at Laxus. He nodded again, then left to get ice, though not before ruffling her hair.

"Get better for us Yukino. Rest. Mavis knows, you need it."

* * *

Sting wasn't sure how long they'd been sitting there, right on their asses, staring after the door she'd left through.

Long enough for the whole room to go cold. Long enough for the sun, which had still been peeking out over the horizon, to disappear completely. Long enough for the constellations of the Spirits Yukino loved so much, to have appeared in the sky. They'd gone into some sort of shock and were just now dazedly becoming aware of what what happening.

Hours.

He'd been sitting on his _ass_ , nursing his broken heart, for hours. And Rogue? Well, he was still recovering from the more un-Yukino thing he'd ever seen. Not to mention that's brother would now be alone for the rest of his life. Sting would never have anyone to share his life with, no one to grow old with him and have a family with him.

No one but him.

Rogue's mind was whirring, as her last words to him were finally being processed and replayed and dissected and-

He needed to see her. It wasn't some burning desire, it was a _need._ A necessity. And then the words escaped his lips.

" _Wait, what?!"_

Sting, with his whole body numb and his foot uncomfortably asleep, moved slowly to hug his brother. Clearly, he was falling deeper and deeper into shock. But Rogue was pushing him off, eyes wildly desperate and scared. Almost... Hopeful?

" _Take care of her for me!"_ Rogue repeated, shaking his brother. "Sting! _Sting_ _!_ Where did she go?" He suddenly asked, dragging his brother outside their room. With his head, whipping back and forth, Rogue was sure he'd give himself whiplash.

And then he caught her scent, and they were now going to the left side of the hall.

The two disheveled idiots parading around the stairwell (well, one was several discombobulated, and the other serioulsy wondering how his poor life choices had led to this moment) did not go unnoticed. Not by the cleaning staff, not by the newly-wed couple whose public display of affection would have made Sting slightly sick/wishful any other day, or... by Gajeel Redfox, whose brow was quirked in curiosity.

"What on earth is-" Gajeel began, until he saw Sting's empty expression. He'd seen a look like that before. Only once, and only a look that devastated happened when it involved-

"She rejected me." Sting said, his voice hollow. Gajeel held his breath, hoping, no, _praying_ that he was wrong about what he thought had happened.

"She told me she hated me," Sting deadpanned. "She told me she hated me and never wanted to see me again because she didn't know if she could be around me anymore knowing that," Sting choked out, feeling his eyes sting (ha ha, I get it) uncomfortably. Gajeel, went stiff, his shoulders rigid.

" _Oh."_ He breathed, remorse washing over him. "Sting I- I'm so sorry," Gajeel said, his offered condolences sounding strange, though not unwelcome, in his gruff voice. "How are you holding up?" He asked lamely, though he already knew. It was a stupid question, Mates were almost like the hole that made the Dragon Slayers complete. Without their Mates, they were left to wander for the rest of their existence with a void inside of them.

Something Sting was actively trying to wrap his head around. And failing at.

The prospect of being alone for the rest of his life, knowing that there was no one else out there for him was... _terrifying_. It was a path of solidarity, of loneliness and just existence that Sting would have to walk alone from now on. One without Rogue, because it was inevitable that he would find his mate some day, and the chances of them rejecting him were less than slim.

"She's said 'she' Sting! _She!_ " Rogue babbled, tugging his strangely corpse-resembling brother behind him. Gajeel followed, still offering apologies quietly under his breath.

"Just let me go to the room!" Sting whined. He yanked his hand back, pulling away. "Rogue, _please_. I don't- I don't even know what she said after 'I can't be around you anymore' and honestly, right now, all I want to do is just curl up and _die._ So please, Rogue just-"

"Nope."

"You didn't even let me fini-"

"Yep. Now come on!" Rogue yelled at his brother, catching the other remorseful Dragon Slayer by the wrist. Gajeel yelped, in a very un-Gajeel-like manner, and was swept away with the steadily growing current of mate-less Dragon Slayers.

* * *

The second Lucy's eyes opened, Natsu was all over her.

"Lucy! Lucy, are you alright?" Natsu said, fretting about her like a mother hen. (The very image alone, of Natsu as a giant feminine bird made Lucy chuckle to herself.)

"Yes," Lucy said, sitting up slowly. "I- yeah, I'm fine. Sorry," she shook her head, her thoughts muddled. "What... why are we here?" she said, sitting up. Rolling her shoulders and wincing, Lucy looked around. "Virgo," she said, eyeing her ex-maid. "What happened?" Virgo, with her steady hand never faltering as she reached to grab Lucy's wrist.

"Princess, you remember what happened almost happened to Loke, right?"

"No..." Lucy trailed off, incredulously. She raised an eyebrow when Virgo didn't respond. "You mean... But Loke waited years before he-"

"Almost faded from existence completely," Virgo finished.

"Right. That." Lucy said awkwardly fidgeting in her seated position. "Almost forgot about that."

* * *

When a shirtless, sweaty Laxus answers the door, absolutely _reeking_ of Yukino, Rogue almost loses it completely.

He doesn't even register the fact that he's doing that eye-glare thing that he hasn't done unintentionally in years (because let's face it; him having no friends as a child definitely had a lot to do with his habit of slipping into an 'I hate the world and everything in it' look that made him seem... well, unapproachable at the very least), and that he's totally shoved Laxus back until he hears a slightly taken aback Gajeel yelling at him for it.

Because it's not often that Rogue totally loses his cool, but when his brother's heart is on the line it's damn well sure gonna happen. One moment he's gaping at the Lightning Dragon Slayer (yet _another_ one of the seven who knows who their mate is, but can't get the courage to just frickin' talk to them) and the next he's gone all crazy shadow-dragon mode.

"Oi! Rogue!" Gajeel barked. In the few seconds Rogue has blacked out and just acted on pure, brotherly instinct, he has somehow caught Laxus by the neck, and left Wendy warily staring at him from the corner. (Being around Gray and Natsu had desensitized her in these sort of situations over the years, and the only worry she usually has is that they don't break anything of too much value.)

"Bastard," Rogue snarled, his canines bared. Laxus, on probably any other occasion, would have backhanded him hard and thrown him back ten feet. But there was a code of honor among Slayers, and misunderstandings their respective Mates, _anyone's_ mates for that matter, needed to be worked out calmly.

Calmly, and in a nonviolent fashion.

So Laxus did that inhale/exhale exercise that Mirajane had taught him (his own unknowing mate probably had no idea that just the thought of her made him relax, even without the breathing technique) and rolled his neck. Tiredly, he jabbed his thumb to his bed behind him.

"She's over there. Don't wake her," he said shortly, pressing himself to the wall to make space so they could enter. "Wendy took care of her; I think she's all good and fine now."

Sting dug his heels into the floor, unwilling to budge.

"No- no Rogue just, _just let me go!"_ Sting exploded. Rogue slapped his brother upside the head.

"No," he said flatly, then turned back to Gajeel. They shared a look, and then Gajeel nodded. Then he proceeded to chop Sting in the back of the neck, earning an irritated 'Ow! What the hell?! What- no, Gajeel, Gajeel dammit let me down!' and then throwing the irritated blonde over his shoulder like a sack of flour. Satisfied, Gajeel smiled at Rogue.

"I got him," Gajeel said a little too happily. Sting writhed around, like a fish out of water, but Gajeel's iron-grip (ha ha I'm so funny) wasn't going to let him free _any_ time soon. Of course, until Sting's possessive instincts slammed into him like a brick wall, seeing Yukino laid out on Laxus' bed like that. He was ripping Gajeel's arms off of him

"Laxus, ya dumbass, what the hell were you thinkin'?" Gajeel growled under his breath. "Layin' her all across _your_ bed, all unconscious and crying and shit, you know it makes it look pretty bad," Gajeel said, glancing at Sting out of the corner of his eye warily. "Kinda like, you know, _you took advantage_?" Gajeel said, stressing he last three words. Laxus' eyes widened, as the implications hit him.

" _Shit_ ," he breathed. "Ah, crap, I didn't even think about that," he said, groaning. Rogue interrupted the conversation, putting both their worries at ease.

"Don't worry about it. Sting knows Yukino well enough to know that she wouldn't do that," Rogue said without concern. "And Sting knows more than anyone (okay maybe not more than Natsu) that even when you think your mate is unattainable, you don't go around sleeping with other people if you think that you still have a shot. So yeah, trust me, that's not really why he got all worked up."

At their inquiring looks, Rogue sighed.

"She rejected him. I think he's gonna try and just... y'know say his goodbyes before she wakes up," Rogue finished with a wince.

"...this whole thing is some sort of sick joke, isn't it?" Laxus said, his eyes softening. "She- she's not really rejecting him, right?"

"I- I don't know," Rogue admitted quietly after a moment of thinking. "I- Well I dragged him all the way down here, but I feel like maybe I was doing that more for me than for her. I know- I know that I can't even imagine the pain of losing a mate and just thinking of Sting having to bear that burden every day of his life. Walking around, roaming just... knowing that he's going to die alone is... something I'd rather not think about."

"Right."

Sting, while this was going on around him, heard not a word of their concerned conversation. Instead, he just stared down at Yukino, eyes brimming with tears that he didn't bother to hide from anyone.

Whatever he mumbled under his breath then, as he stared down at his whole universe, fell deaf to the ears of the bystanders of his last goodbye. After this... well, Sting wasn't quite sure where he'd go, whether or not he'd stick around to fulfill his selfish desire to see Yukino, or to roam Magnolia alone.

Whatever his decision would be, he knew that things with him and Yukino would never be the same again, and he had to accept the painful truth.

She knew. And she was disgusted. By him, his affections.

He knew they could smell the tears on his cheeks. And he was thankful for them not saying anything.

He was even more thankful when Laxus cleared his throat, and they all filed out so he could say goodbye. He deserved whatever privacy they could give him. Rogue looked back at him over his shoulder on the way out, giving his brother's shaking shoulders one last look before closing the door.

Sting was well aware that his life would be nothing short of a dark, dreary hell from now on, so he did the last selfish thing he'd ever do by her.

He bent down and pressed his lips to her forehead, inhaling her scent one last time. This moment, this smell that was bound to fade fast; too fast, and his precious memories of her, were going to be the things that kept him on his feet. For a while, anyway.

Defeated, as he pulled away, he allowed the realization to wash over him. His life was going to be meaningless, and he would spent it growing old and alone until he'd die of loneliness. He'd never faced this possibility head-on, and now that it looked like it was his future...

And then she woke up.

* * *

When her eyes flashed open, all Sting could hear was the resounding _shit shit shit shit_ repeating in his mind.

She leapt out of bed faster than he'd ever seen her move, and in his favorite shirt, _no pants_ , clutching the thin hotel blanket to her like a shield, with her chest heaving he was pretty sure she was not feeling too great about him right now.

Oh, and yeah, she'd told him she hated him not even an hour ago.

He swallowed roughly. Though he knew he had no right, he acted on his instinct to soothe her as he had before, and he reached out to brush the tears somehow already streaking down her cheeks.

" _Don't touch me!"_ She shrieked, flinching back.

Sting's eyes flashed with unmistakable hurt, as he drew his hand back. Both just stared down, Yukino at Sting's shirt, and Sting at the hand he'd stretched out to her, which was starting to tremble.

"Stop this," she said shakily after a minute of her labored breathing. "Stop doing this to me," she said through gritted teeth again, snapping her head up to look up at him furiously. She fought the urge to claw away at the shirt, the shirt that was drowning her in his scent. She fought the urge to cry, and she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to keep both of the two at bay.

"You're only making this harder for me, you don't you see that?" She cried, throwing her hands up, blanket forgotten. "I'm trying so damn hard Sting, but you're only making it _impossible!_ " She nearly screamed, the tremor in her voice unmistakable.

"Well I'm sorry I can't control my own damn feelings!" Sting roared back, adrenaline shooting through him. "I'm sorry that I don't have the liberty of being a normal person and just throwing my heart away at anything that walks by!" He snapped. He knew he'd crossed some line just then, but now he couldn't bring himself to care.

"I'm sorry that I can't be like _you_ , I'm sorry that I have to be the way I am, and I would change it if I could but I'm not and I'm sorry!" He exploded. "But I can't change being a Dragon Slayer and I can't change everything that comes along with that. This... this is me, and I can't fix any of it," he said weakly, gesturing down at himself.

"Well why hang around then, huh?" Yukino challenged. "Why even stick around if you know how I feel about it huh? Don't you have anything better to do than to mess with my life?" She demanded, moving closer so he was staring directly down at her. "This is _my_ life Sting, and you can't just waltz in and fuck it all up for your own amusement because poor little Yukino is fun to screw with," she spat.

Speechless, Sting just looked at her, fury building up behind his own eyes.

"Is that what you think this is? You think I can help it? You know what, I'm sorry that you're so _disgusted_ by me and my love life, but Mates are something that I have no control over. I'm not fucking with you on purpose, Yukino."

Yukino threw her head back, her laughter just on the edge of hysteria.

"Oh, aren't you? Well what about friends then?" Yukino retorted. "You can control that, can't you? You can control who you chose to be your friend and who you chose to be around, can't you?"

"Well I want to be around you!" He screamed, enraged. "And I'm sorry if the very idea of me falling in love with someone freaks you out so much, but I'm trying to just be your friend, Yukino, and if that's what I have to do to be able to be with you at all, then I'll make the sacrifice. I'm sorry that I can't control it, I'm sorry that it makes you so uncomfortable, but I swear I'll try hard to make things better between us. Please, Yukino?" he asked, having calmed down a considerable amount since the beginning of his rant.

"...do you think she'll forgive me?" Yukino asked weakly, after thinking of the very idea of not having Sting in her life at all. She'd endure it, she'd endure the pain of watching them everyday of her life if she had to if it meant keeping Sting in her life.

"...what?"

"Your mate."

"Come again?" He asked, brows furrowed.

"Forgive me."

"Who now and for what now?" He said again, clearly not following.

"Will she be mad at me? Your mate?" Yukino asked, closing her eyes slowly, just feeling the agony wash over her at the idea of becoming friends with the woman Sting would spend the rest of his life with. Her heartbeat slowed, as all the energy was drained from her. "Do you think I'll be forgiven?"

"Forgiven for what?"

"For falling in love with you," she stated simply, as if telling him her favorite color.

She turned to him, tears in her eyes and a sad smile on her face.

"Can _you_ forgive me for falling in love with you?"

* * *

 **I am so sorry this took so long. I am so, so sorry. I PROMISE I'll try harder but man, high school is sucky. (I know, I know, I'm only a freshman so I can't really say that and be taken seriously.) Anyway, I hope you guys liked it and I'll try not to take as long this time with the new chapter!**

 **-Pyro**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **I am so sorry.**

 **I forgot about this story completely because I turned my fanfic notifications off, and I just returned to the website THIS MORNING and wet "shit... SHIT."**

 **Because my priority right now is just FINISHING this chapter that should have been finished and posted like a month ago, I'm not going to give my thank you's to anyone specifically, because you all know who you are. Thank you guys for supporting me, and for reading my story and leaving reviews and favoring/following because really, that means the world to me.**

 **(ALSO PLEASE FORGIVE ME I SWEAR I'LL TRY HARDER.)**

* * *

It took Sting roughly four seconds, four incredibly long, painful seconds on Yukino's side of things, to react.

He just looked down at her, this tiny little bundle of pale blue in his grey shirt, looking up at him with her cheeks wet and her hopeful expression. Her tiny hands are clasped at her chest, as she prays, she _begs_ for some higher power for him to say yes, that he can and he will forgive her for that.

But he doesn't say that.

Instead he lets out a nervous laugh, his breathing becoming uneven as he leaned back on the desk for support. The feeling that something has been terribly misunderstood washes over him, making his skin crawl.

"Yukino... what?" He asks, tilting his head to look at her, disbelieving. He must have misheard her. Right? She seemed to draw back into herself then, packing herself tighter and tighter together like the strength she uses to pul herself together will keep her from falling apart. It isn't working well.

"I- I know that I don't have any right to ask you for this but- I mean I know interfering with mates is wrong but... well, I would like to still be your friend," Yukino said, with a smile that was not nearly as convincing as she'd hoped. Kinda looked like a grimace she realized, in retrospect.

"You- you want me to-"

"Just forget about all of it," she nearly begged then, falling to her knees in front of him, grabbing his hand. She couldn't look up at him. She wouldn't. Because this was humiliating enough, but having him stare into her vulnerable eyes, with every emotion she held for him bared free for him to see was too much for her to handle.

"Because I will do everything I can to stop loving you," Yukino cried, tugging down on his hand. "I did the research when I found out you'd found your mate. And I know that there's no more serious crime to a Dragon Slayer than to get between them and their mate. So this girl, this girl who is so damn lucky to have you; I promise I will do my best to like her too. Because I know, I know that being around someone who's crazy about you when you already have your soul mate is all kinds of awkward. But please, Sting, forget. I promise, I _swear_ that I'll never bring how I feel up again. And your-"

Yukino sobbed on the word, as it got caught in her throat and left a nasty feeling in her mouth. She was crying again, sniffling, feeling like a fool.

"-mate, tell her- tell her I won't do anything. I'll just be your friend. I promise, okay?"

Sting just shook his head, sinking down to his knees to press his forehead to hers.

"No, no," he said, shaking his head. "No, we did not go through all of this, I did not spend months of you avoiding me, months of being _alone_ and wondering what I'd done, months of just wanting to be with you, months of trying to wrap my head around the idea of living without you... I did not go through all of that for you to love me too."

Yukino looked up at him, her pale cheeks and her rosy lips just inches from his face.

"Sting," she sad softly, taking in his own tears and the frustrated, borderline furious look on his face.

"No," he repeated, shaking his head with own sob escaping his lips. He stumbled back, letting her hand drop from his. His back hit the wall, and slowly he slumped down against it. He wouldn't look at her, he _couldn't_ , for fear that this was some sick joke. Because the universe, if it was true, was _really_ fucking with him.

"I didn't love you all this time for you to get it in your stupid little head that I've been mated to someone else."

Her eyes going wide with realization, Yukino gasped, her panicked eyes flying up to meet his own despaired face.

"No," she mouthed, shaking her head slowly. "No, Sting you're not really telling me that-"

Sting nodded his own head slowly, letting his head drop in his hands. He was silent, unwilling to look at her, because after all this time, after all this waiting and all this pain, he... he could allow himself to hope.

But he was afraid. Because what if this was some kind of joke, if he got his hopes up only for them to come crashing down again... Well, he did't think that he would survive the fall.

What Sting failed to realize was that, while he was having this internal struggle, there was a teary eyed Celestial Wizard very much waiting for him to say something.

 _Do I...? Does she- could she actually-_

And by the time he looked up, he found Yukino's face just inches from his own, her upper lip quivering and more tears streaming down her face. She was seated just in front of him, leaning forward just enough for him to feel her uneven breaths on his face. And then she gave him that smile, that lopsided smile that just about melted his heart overtime he saw it. The same smile that killed him with a sickening, burning jealousy every time it wasn't directed at him.

And that smile, that smile made it all go away for just a second. It was like a dose of morphine that left everything else numb and blurry around him. The pain was just gone. And then a shadow flickered across her face, and she wasn't smiling anymore.

It brought the pain crashing down around him again, waves of agony washing away at his insides, flames from the very depths of hell licking at his heart.

She looked down at her lap, her short hair falling to cover her eyes, and he swallowed thickly. She was messing with him, and he couldn't even be mad at her because he loved her so damn much. It made him sick to his stomach, thinking that maybe it was because she'd pitied him enough for her to give him one pathetic, false moment of happiness. Or because she wanted to mess with him or the whole universe was messing with him or that he was just dreaming and this nightmare would end but-

 _I have to go._ Was suddenly all he could think, the walls suddenly closing in on him. He would stand and sprint for the door. Or the window. Yeah, maybe the window. They were only a couple stories up, he could take it. Natsu did it all the time.

Before he could set his very poorly put together plan in action, Yukino cleared her throat.

 _"Stay."_

And then she sprang forward, bringing her small pale hands to grab the sides of his face, and crashed his lips down onto hers.

* * *

Lucy scratched the back of her neck nervously, under Natsu's withering glare.

"I'm sorry?" She squeaked, her wings opening and closing with her restlessness.

"Lucy," he thundered, looking down on her with an odd shadow cast across his face. "You... you almost died all for a couple of hours with me?" He was the oddest expression on his face, something resembling... was that guilt? "Lucy, I- I lived for almost a month thinking that you had died, and I-"

"I chose to stay," Lucy interrupted firmly, looking up at him. "It was my decision, and I promise, I swear that I'll be careful from now on."

Natsu inhaled heavily through his nose, exhaling actual steam.

"...you're so damn lucky that I'm in love with you," he grumbled after a minute and his breathing evened out.

"Yeah," she mumbled. "I really am."

* * *

Mira yawned, stretching her arms and rolling her neck. Walking out of her and Lisanna's shared hotel room, she blinked at the sight before her. Bleary eyed, with all of her hair tied up into a ponytail in her lilac pajama bottoms, there was a stark contrast between the Take-Over Mage and the little gaggle of people currently standing outside her door.

"So, uh, morning Mira?" Wendy squeaked, nervously toeing the carpeted floor. Mira was notorious for being able to go from clam to demon in the blink of an eye, and no one had been brave enough to interrupt her sleep since she was a prepubescent teen with unusual high hormone levels.

No time like the present to see how she reacted to it, right?

And then Mira beamed at them, her toothy smile causing them to relax into the wall behind them.

"Well, what's going on out here?" She asked, looking from the Sky Dragon Slayer, to Rogue, t Gajeel who looked all kinds of uncomfortable, and then her eyes landed on Laxus and she momentarily forgot how to breathe.

"Well, come in," she said cheerily after a moment of trying to remember how she was supposed to inhale.

"I assume there's something important I missed."

Gajeel snorted.

* * *

Mira's jaw had dropped, as the whole tale was told to her.

 _So Sting knows, huh? Poor Yukino. And oh god, she was going to have to be around Sting's mate because she'd probably come visit their guild and-_

"Wait, are you telling me that Sting is up there, alone, about to say his final goodbye to Yukino and leave because the love is unrequited?" Mira asked, rubbing her temples. Rogue nodded, leaning back into his chair.

"Well, considering how well I know him, I'd say that most likely how he's going to handle the situation," Rogue said, lifting his glass to his lips and feeling the alcohol burn a trail down to his stomach. "I... I can't believe it," he said softly.

"I don't know if you'd understand, seeing as you're not a Dragon Slayer, or mated to one _yet_ ," he said, breathing out the last word quietly, glancing over at Laxus quickly. Laxus turned to the wall, scowling. "But it's just... now that he knows that she doesn't want to be around him because she can't stand the idea of him being tied to her for life-"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Mira said, her hands gesturing wildly. " _What?_ " She hissed, leaning over the small round table to grab him by the front of his shirt. Rogue, looking oddly like a frightened small, woodland creature, turned white.

"What?" he spluttered, hands held high, like one would when surrendering.

"Repeat that," she ordered, not even caring that Laxus was watching her behave like an escaped asylum patient. (Okay, so maybe she cared a little bit, but she had more pressing issues at hand.)

"Uh, well, Sting was just about to leave because he's fallen in love with Yukino and she just said that she can't be around him anymore because now that she knows he's found his mate she's disgusted by him and did I mention that he's probably going to disappear for a while after this to roam the continent alone to accept that he's going to die alone," Rogue rushed out, getting lightheaded at the very act of spitting that all out in one breath.

"Wait wait," she said, waving her hands.

"Yukino's been in love with Sting for like, over a year." She said, confusedly, her eyebrows arching.

Gajeel sprayed his whiskey all over the bed coughing.

* * *

Yukino's lips were suddenly moving softly against his own, and Sting was fairly certain that he'd either died and gone to heaven from jumping out of that window, or fainted in some embarrassing display of crying until he couldn't breathe. (It had happened before, not all that long ago.)

But then she pulled at his bottom lip with her teeth and he let out a moan that sent shivers down her spine, and he knew that hallucinations and dreams didn't feel like this. _Couldn't_ feel like this. She was kissing him.

Yukino was kissing him.

 _Yukino was kissing him._

Sting, not having moved since she's practically jumped on him, looked sickly pale. Yukino, silently cursing herself, withdrew and turned her head down in shame.

 _You idiot._

But then the pads of his thumbs were brushing the tears of humiliation away, his gentle hands tilting her head up to meet his eyes. His bright, awed, amazed eyes.

And then he was the one to kiss her this time, cradling her heart-shaped face in his hands. Her hands snaked up his neck, then into his hair as he kissed her breathless.

Yukino melted.

Her eyelashes fluttered, brushing softly against the top of her cheekbones. She gasped for air when he finally pulled away, already missing the feeling of having him so close.

The awed look he gave her as he pulled back to see her flushed face made her heart flutter embarrassingly in her chest, and when he pursed his lips with his eyes crinkling, she knew he could hear it. At least he had the decency to try and suppress it.

Key word: was vibrating with laughter, his shoulders shaking with the effort of trying to keep a straight face.

He was failing miserably.

Stupid, gorgeous jerk.

He gave in then, guffawing at the _adorable_ pout of hers as she glared at him. She distracted him with a mind-blowing kiss just then, threading her fingers into his golden hair and tugging softly, effectively shutting him up and causing his torso to go still.

And after their third first kiss, they finally separated, both rosy cheeked and awestruck.

"So... you too then?" Yukino asked shyly, twirling on of his side bangs around her finger distractedly. Oh god, _she_ could actually hear her heart knocking desperately against her ribcage this time. She flushed from her collarbone to her hairline, suddenly very interested in picking at her nails.

He smiled, glad that she couldn't hear his own heartbeat, beating in harmony with Yukino's. And then he leaned in close, their noses just fractions of a centimeter apart.

"I love you," he breathed, with relief washing through him as his long-carried burden being lifted off his shoulders. She looked up at him then, eyes wide and watery. He cleared his voice, suddenly feeling teary-eyed himself.

"I love you so damn much that it hurt just breathing in the air from a room you weren't in. It hurt so bad when you stopped talking to me; I took mission after mission and just threw myself into fighting and training because all I could think about was you," he confessed. "I- I thought I was going to die wandering around Fiore, alone. And you know what's funny? The one regret I couldn't get out of my head was that I would eventually die never having kissed you. Never having told you that I loved you or that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

He gave Yukino a minute, just a minute to let all of that sink in. He'd thrown it out as more of a warning; to give her just a glimpse of what she'd be getting into. Because maybe she loved him, sure, but human love was a fickle thing, and he'd seen love fade away in humans a depressing amount of times. But now, he was regretting he had.

 _What if she realizes I'm crazy? That this is crazy? That she'd be crazy for_ _staying around after that because this whole thing is crazy?_

His eyes were screwed shut, so he wouldn't have to see if doubt would flicker across her face.

"Well, I don't think you're going to have to worry about that," she said finally, breathing out a laugh. He really was _adorable_ with his nose all scrunched up and worried like that. He peered up at her, his lashes uncomfortably stiff from the tears that had dried there.

"Sting, I think from now on, your biggest problem will be prying me off of you."

So she kissed him again, just to prove her point.

* * *

 **Well, this chapter sucked.**

 **Anyway, so sorry again and I hope you'll hear from me** **soon! (Because I won't forget next time. Probably.)**

 **-Pyro**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot**

 **Hi guys. Been a long time, huh?**

 **I've been gone for so long, I kind of lost the flow of the story. I had some things to sort out about myself, and I still haven't really figured it all out. I stopped writing completely, I kind of gave up for a while.**

 **But here I am, months later.**

 **I won't apologize for needing to sort myself out, but I will apologize for leaving you all waiting for so long without even so much as a word.**

 **This chapter was kind of hard to write since it's been so long, but I hope you like it.**

 **ALSO I DON'T WANT ROGUE TO BE MATELESS SO TELL ME WHAT YOU GUYS THINK I SHOULD DO (either recommend a character for the Fairy Tail universe OR should I do an OC? bc as of right now I was gonna write him in with Kagura from Mermaid Heel but I don't know if I'll even go super into that relationship/be able to even write her in character?)**

* * *

Laxus' eyebrows arched at Mira's sudden outburst, as the whole room went silent (minus Gajeel, of course, who was suffering the rather uncomfortable feeling of whiskey having gone down the wrong pipe). His large hands, calloused and rough, came to grip the table so intensely that Mira feared that it would break under his iron grip.

Her hands, tiny and pale and undoubtedly powerful enough to crush a man's skull should she feel like it, came over the table and grasped his wrists.

"Laxus," she said in a low, odd voice. he would have relaxed at the sound of her voice, it was a calming effect that Mates held over one another, but there was something odd about her tone-

 _"...are you freaking kidding me?"_

Despite the burning trail of pain from his mouth to his stomach, Gajeel coughed out a raspy laugh.

"Ah that's our Mirajane, ever the lady."

When the possessive snarl that escaped Laxus reached the ears of the other three Dragon Slayers present, Rough not so subtly stifled a laugh. (Clearly, someone else using the word _our_ in regards to Mira had Laxus very upset.)

Laxus chucked an empty glass at him.

Mira turned to Wendy, wondering what she'd missed.

Rogue sighed.

* * *

Mirajane, having been worked into an absolute frenzy, was storming down to the room with a fierce determination set in her blue eyes. Gajeel, trailing behind her was nervously trying to talk her out of the really stupid head that she'd taken hold of.

"Mira, really, it's kind of a Dragon Slayer thing so you wouldn't really understand but- you're not allowed to interfere with mates and honestly if you're going to do it wait for things to calm down Sting's probably in a really bad place right now and-"

"Well then!" Mira cried shrilly. "I'm going to find Yukino because she's been in love with Sting for Mavis knows how long and I'm at least going to help her feel better until those two _idiots_ get it together and figure all this out and _argh_!" She cried, throwing her hands up when she felt tentative hands winding around her waist.

"Mira, I know it's really frustrating and super annoying and I would have helped earlier if I knew that Yukino liked him too but the older girls don't really tell me anything-" Wendy was rambling into Mira's back, trying to stop her from committing one of the biggest taboos that they had.

"Surely if it's for a good cause guys; come on!" Mira argued. Rogue shuffled his feet, looking down awkwardly.

"For a good cause, maybe, but tonight, Sting really needs to be alone and if he and Yukino are still talking right now, because Yukino really is a good person and she'll want to talk it out even though Sting will want nothing more than to be swallowed up by the earth and die-"

Rogue's eyes widened, and he winced when a less than pleasant thought hit him like a ton of bricks.

"One second thought, go. Now," he growled suddenly, pushing past Mira roughly and sprinting down the hallway.

Laxus began chasing after him, having followed his line of thought and drawing to the same conclusion.

"What the hell?" Mira asked, running alongside Gajeel just behind the other two, with Wendy trailing behind.

"Sting's probably hysterical," Rogue panted out, as they rounded the corner. "He's probably hysterical and lonely and he's probably considering doing some _very_ stupid things such as reckless endangerment and believe me- especially back from before when Minerva was around- Sting _knows_ how to pick a fight. And the more dangerous the person the better so we have to go!" Rogue said again, spitting it all out in one frantic breath.

"It's how he copes," Rogue spit when Mira tried to tell him to calm down. "It's how Sting deals when he freaks out; like Natsu he goes and picks a fight that he usually has little chance of winning but ends up winning somehow but right about now he'll have an _actual_ death wish and oh god," Rogue groaned when the door was locked.

"Open up!" Rogue said; going to kick the door for it to go flying in with no resistance.

The room was empty.

"Crap," he swore, barging into the room.

"Check her room," Laxus suddenly said, his head shooting up. "If it ended badly maybe one of them went back to their room."

And then they were flying through the stairwell again, and Rogue was bashing in Yukino's door while Laxus pounded at Rogue and Sting's door.

"Umm Laxus?" Wendy asked timidly. "I'm pretty sure Rogue has the key to his own room..."

And with a twist of the doorknob Mira proved that they should have checked if the door was actually locked or not.

Wendy peeked in, her small frame slipping through the open for easily.

And then she came running back out, having bolted like a bat out of hell.

She looked sick.

"They're in there" she managed as she appeared to be physically restraining herself from vomiting. "Y-yeah I think we should go now."

Wendy was shaking.

Mira was concerned.

And Rogue seemed to be having a panic attack as the horrible scenarios ran through his head.

 _Are they both in there? Are they both crying or are they in separate corners refusing to talk to each other. I guess that's better then Sting picking a fight and dying but oh god what if Sting's in there and he's dead? Or what if Yukino's dead and then by extension Sting would probably have died and they both just look like they're sleeping? Oh god what if there are two dead bodies in there and they both just look like they're sleeping?_

"I think Sting and Yukino are kissing and it is so so _so gross!"_ Wendy finally squealed, jumping from one foot to the other and slapping a hand over her mouth like she's just admitted to murder.

Mira broke the silence with a slightly hysterical laugh.

"There he goes," Gajeel said with a smirk, even going as far as to grab Laxus into a bear/man-hug.

"The first of us to make it," Laxus said in an uncharacteristically enthusiastic voice, slapping Gajeel on the back.

Wendy looked like she wanted to sink into the floor and die.

Rogue chuckled weakly.

* * *

She pulled back from the kiss, with their cheeks wet and a smile on her face.

"I am so happy to have met you," she breathed, eyes full of wonder. "I am so sorry that it took so long for us to find this."

"Me too," he said softly. Pulling her to him and snaking an arm around her waist, he tilted his head with a smile. "But now that I've got you don't expect me to let you out of my sight ever again."

"I don't plan on going anywhere you can't see me," Yukino admitted, looking down wearing an expression akin to 'embarrassed.'

"You know I love you, I love you and I would go through all those years of pain from the old master and humiliation after my failure and everything else all over again just to have this," she said quietly, playing with a strand of his hair.

"And I would go through all that heartache to have you here with me in a heartbeat."

* * *

He woke to thunder.

It was an occupational habit; waking up at the slightest sounds or movements was something that was ingrained in nearly every Dragon Slayer by the time they hit puberty, and it was a skill that had proved _very_ helpful on missions. It was an instinct that really only went away after huge battles that left them sleeping in near-coma states for over 48 hours sometimes.

Sting jerked up, the muscles in his back tensing as he exhaled sharply. He lunged forward, immediately forming a human shield around the sleeping form next to him.

With his mind having leapt into his 'battle mode' so to speak, it took him a moment to realize that no, this was not a surprise attack (those seemed to happen to him an awful lot, now that he thought about it), and that Rogue was, unsurprisingly, not stirring. (Rogue, while he was better at keeping night watch, usually reacted much slower than his brother who was a light sleeper. It wasn't uncommon that when being attacked while sleeping, Sting would react first and yank his brother under him to keep him form being mauled in his sleep.)

(Which also meant that during false alarms, Sting and Rogue ended up in seemingly compromising positions, ones that Juvia had had the misfortune of walking in on that one time.)

Puzzled, Sting stared down at his very lazy brother wrapped in his blanket before taking a deep sniff and rearing his head back, firmly concluding that no, this was certainly, 100% not his twin brother.

At least, if he had reacted to the smell of his brother like was did in the moment, there would have been some serious concerns they would need to address in their relationship.

Like, why his mouth was suddenly so dry or why he was unable to string enough words together to form a coherent statement. (aka why he was suddenly unable to get enough blood from his groin to his head).

And then Yukino emerged, and his suddenly lack of mental bandwidth made a lot of sense.

She stared up at him sleepily.

"G'morning," she mumbled.

Sting felt his mouth crack into the most obnoxious, genuine, mega-watt smile that had ever graced his face and really couldn't bring himself to care how out of character it looked.

"G'morning beautiful," he almost crooned, and Yukino giggled.

"You're disgusting," she said with another laugh, latching her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her. Bumping their noses together, Yukino sighed contentedly. When a flash of lighting followed by a resounding ' _crack'_ flashed just outside their window, Yukino flinched in spite of herself.

Sting's body, still hovering over Yukino's, tightened protectively.

"Wow that was... odd," Yukino said, a lilting laugh escaping her.

"I'm kind of obligated to protect you," Sting admitted. "My body is gonna react when I see or feel you distressed and when we officially become mates we're only gonna get more sensitive to each other's emotions."

"Can't wait," Yukino said dryly, thinking forward to all the weird mood swings he'd be reacting to. Oh yeah. It was gonna be a fun time.

* * *

Natsu and Lucy stayed in the Spirit world for two whole hours. 120 minutes to make sure Lucy soaked up enough energy form the Spirit World to avoid her last incident.

When they returned to Earthland, a week had passed. (Again, I did the math. 1 hour is 3.5 days)

Before they'd even taken three steps into the hotel lobby, Natsu suddenly stopped, with Lucy's hand clutched tightly in his.

"Something's changed," he declared after a minute, his nose in the air. Inhaling deeply, his nostrils flaring, Natsu took a tentative sniff before his face broke into a sly grin.

"Atta boy!" Natsu suddenly crowed, a hearty-albeit surprised- laugh escaping form his mouth. Suddenly Gajeel was lazily walking over, saluting Natsu with a shark-like grin on his face.

"Good to see you dude!" Gajeel said, and Lucy's eyebrows climbed up her forehead when he even went so far as to wrestle Natsu into something vaguely resembling a bear hug, clapping him on the back. (Honestly, more like a 'I'm-gonna-try-and-slap-you-so-hard-your-intestines-come-out-of-your-mouth' kind of hit and even with a newly improved Spirit body, Lucy couldn't believe how rough boys were.)

Pulling back, Gajeel flashed that sharp-toothed grin again, his eyes flashing with the most pleasant expression Lucy personally had ever seen him wear.

"You can feel it, right? And the smell," Gajeel said, the wicked smile still plastered over his face. "He's everywhere."

"I'm sorry, what going on?" Lucy finally asked, brows furrowed.

"A new mating bond," Natsu said, turning to her with a smile. "When a Dragon Slayer 'claims' his mate, his scent, his pheromones are especially strong for the first few days or so, initially to ward off other Slayers; to show that their Mate was spoken for. And someone-" he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "-someone's scent seems to be especially strong around here." He inhaled again, and then coughed.

"Ugh, maybe _excessively_ strong, _Mavis_ I think he's going a little overboard," Natsu said, his nose wrinkling.

"Well I mean, I think they only made it official a few days ago," Gajeel said, leaning back onto the table.

"What. Is. Happening." Lucy deadpanned.

"Sting's scent seems to be _extremely_ strong this fine morning," Natsu said, as he rocked back onto his heels waiting for it so sink in.

 _One..._

 _Two..._

 _Three..._

Lucy's eyes went wide.

"Ohmygod," she said, her face brightening. "You mean Yukino-"

"Yep," Natsu said, beaming at her. Lucy then hesitated.

"Wait, when you said making it official you mean-"

Gajeel interrupted her with a chuckle when Natsu flushed.

"If you mean 'doing the dirty' then nah not yet," Gajeel said, his hand coming to ruffle Natsu's hair. "But I meant they officially became a couple. If it had been the official thing, Sting probably wouldn't let her out of his sight for the first 24 hours. What he's doing is just laying a claim, it's a territorial thing."

And then the heavens looked down upon them and took mercy on them, as they were all saved from an awkward silence that would have carried on for several eons, when Yukino bounded down the stairs and caught sight of her recovered Spirit friend.

"Lucy!" Yukino squealed, bounding over to her friend, wrapping her tightly in a hug.

Lucy coughed.

"Ah," Lucy said, wrinkling her nose and pulling slightly back from the hug. "I heard the news! I'm so so so happy for you!" Lucy squealed, squeezing her tighter. "And _Mavis_ Yukino, you _stink_ ," Lucy said, her voice light to show she was teasing. (Only kind of kidding though, while it wasn't necessarily a _bad_ smell it was just _very_ pungent). Yukino was positively beaming, albeit at least a touch embarrassed.

"Yeah, uh, so I've heard," Yukino said sheepishly. "I heard that Sting might have gone a little overboard with the whole 'scenting' thing," she said with a laugh. "Gajeel won't even come within three or four feet me it's so strong. Rogue's whole face kinda pinches up whenever I touch him," she fondly. "Pretty funny actually."

Lucy leaned in again, tentatively sniffing at Yukino's pale blue hair.

"I mean," she began, tapping a finger to her lips as she thought of the best way to explain it. "You know when you have perfume or cologne or something, and while the smell isn't exactly _unpleasant_ on it's own, if you rub too much yourself it's kind of awful?" Yukino nodded.

"Yeah wel it's kinda like that except it's like you emptied the whole bottle on yourself," Lucy said, giving Yukino and apologetic look before stepping back a few inches.

"Wow that's... huh, that sounds pretty awful for you guys actually," Yukino said, cheeks flushed.

"Nah, I mean we'll put up with it because we love you," Lucy said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Careful with the 'L' word," Gajeel advised- still a safe distance form Yukino- with a strangely serious look. "Regardless of who it's from, any Slayer would go a little ballistic if they hear someone else say it to their mate within the first few days of the mating process."

"Ah, gotcha," Lucy said, stepping back when catching sight of the blonde approaching form over Yukino's shoulder. Confused at her friends sudden step back, Yukino was confused for about .6 seconds before she felt a familiar pair of arms wind around her waist.

"Hey Lucy," Sting greeted casually, perching his head on Yukino's shoulder. "You feeling any better?"

Lucy nodded, still smiling wide and unabashedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Heard about the big news though, and I'm very happy for the both of you!"

Sting smiled, canines sharp.

"Thanks for that Lucy, appreciate it."

"Though honestly you really must be some sort of idiot. And that goes for you too Yukino," Lucy suddenly continued. "You're both some real self-sacrificing pieces of wok, I gotta say."

Sting chuckled.

"This coming from a member of Fairy Tail? I don't believe it," Sting teased.

Lucy laughed, admitting that yes, perhaps he did have a point, before stilling.

"Huh. I'm not really sure you can say that anymore," Lucy said scratching her head in deep thought. "Technically, I belong to Yukino and she's a member of Sabertooth so..."

"Oh," Natsu said, eyes widening. "We never really... All of us never really talked about it; what happens now."

"Well both of our guilds pulled out of the Games," Gajeel interjected, coming forward to join the discussion, his nose pinched between his two fingers. Lucy looked at him in surprise.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, most of us have mainly been sticking it out here to spectate that Games, but the whole point of joining the Games was to try and get everyone's fighting spirit back since your... y'know, _departing_ ," Gajeel said, well aware of how taught Natsu's back had become at the mention of their reason for joining the Games. "-but now that you're back we obviously don't really need that anymore, and we don't really have anything to prove so... it was kinda the most logical choice."

"We're all gonna stick around for a little while longer, some of us are even taking missions in the area but after this, I have no clue what happens next."

"I go with Yukino," Lucy said softly.

It was silent for a few moments, as the implications of what was to come sunk in for everyone.

"And I go with Lucy," Natsu said, linking hands with Lucy. She looked at him sadly.

"Natsu, you've spent almost your whole life - minus the years with Igneel- in Fairy Tail. That's your _home_ ," Lucy said, looking down at her feet. "That's ou- _your family_ ," Lucy said sadly.

"But they're your family too," Natsu protested weakly. "And Luce I- you're my _mate_ ," he said, visibly becoming increasingly distressed. "Lucy I'm never gonna let you get away again, do you know how _hard_ it was for me? Constantly dreaming about your _death_ "

Everyone had gone silent, racking their brains for something to say.

"I know," Lucy said, squeezing his hand. "And I don't plan on leaving you any time soon. Just... Natsu how is this gonna work? Yukino holds my key, not to mention all of my Sp- my _old_ Spirits," Lucy said, curing herself for slipping up yet _again._

"And there aren't any Celestial Wizards to hand your key over to," Yukino said, her finger absentmindedly tracing Andromeda's key dangling from her waist.

No one said anything for a few moments.

"Well," Sting said, clearing his throat. "How about we do a joint mission? Sabertooth just got a huge one, and SS-Calss Job that'll require a pretty big team. We could bring a lot of mages to make it easier, and if anything I think it would be more of a bonding thing than anything else. The pay isn't bad even when split between a pretty decent amount of people, and it'd be nice to fight alongside each other again, wouldn't it?"

"That would... yeah that might work," Gajeel said, after a few seconds of silence. "That way, we have time to think of a solution and get to fight alongside each other again."

"Wait," Lucy interjected. "An SS-Class job? That requires _extremely_ powerful S-Class Mages and we don't even have that many in our Guild-"

"Actually," Natsu cut in. "You were kind of uhm, _away_ but a lot of us in Fairy Tail got promoted to S-Class Mages because we took on like, _a lot_ of jobs," he said, refusing to meet anyone's eye.

 _Of course they'd taken on hundreds of jobs combined, they were **devastated** and there wasn't much else to do that felt quite as good as bringing down hoards of enemies with their bare hands. _ Sting thought to himself, making eye contact with Gajeel.

"We obviously thought that going to Tenrou was a **_bad_** idea after what happened last time, and none of us really cared but Master saw a few of us fit to be promoted plus we could get better jobs being referred to the guild"

"And I had a little chat with Virgo and Loke," Yukino suddenly recalled. "And while you technically qualify automatically if I go, since I'm S-Class too, I could see that you might be worried because you'd never taken on a mission like this before. But according to them and from what I've seen, with your new powers you'd be much better equipped for this kind of mission with your new powers."

"...let's do it," Lucy said after a moment of consideration.

"I feel like I haven't fought alongside you guys in forever, and I was practically asleep for most of me being away," Lucy admitted.

"And I think it'll be fun, not so much stressful because with the amount of people we're taking our Team will be over qualified. Especially if we also take the rest of Team Natsu," Sting said, dryly, playfully punching Natsu in the arm. "You just had to go and name a whole team after yourself huh?"

Natsu shoved him back with equal force (that is to say, not very much at all) and continued.

"What do you guys say, let's do it?" Natsu said. "I'm down, and honestly, I think we'll have fun."

"Hell yeah!"

"Good," Sting said with a smile, eyes bright.

"Because we leave tomorrow."

* * *

 **(This was not very good I am so sorry I will try harder next time)**

 **-Pyro**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.**

 **Guys I reread my old chapters and my spelling errors are atrocious and my grammar was shit jesus fucking christ.**

* * *

Literally three seconds into the job, and Gray was already missing most of his clothes and Erza had punched Natsu in the head hard enough to shatter a normal person's skull. Wendy, ever the innocent, bounced along the group of Exceeds that appeared to be having some intricate, philosophical discussion about fish.

Ah, just like the good ol' days.

The trip there was a relatively short one; two days on foot (as Gajeel, Natsu, Sting _and_ Rogue has straight up _refused_ to go anywhere near a train or a boat or any sort of vehicle), trekking through open fields and eventually into a forest that seemed to be getting progressively worse for them, following the rancid scent of a dark mage.

At first there were a couple of small woodland creatures and all of that storybook shit and sure, that was cute for the first two hours.

Then hour three rolled around, and Yukino saw a bug that that was probably about the size of her fist and then it was a little less cute. (Sting's reaction had been pretty funny though, everyone would later admit. At her strangled 'eep' he'd practically flown across from the other side of the group, throwing himself in front of her like a shield.)

In other words, everyone was very happy.

Except for one very disgruntled dragon slayer with hair the color of candy floss.

Natsu, yes, did have his partner, and his best friend and not to mention _mate_ back to go on missions with.

On the other hand, there was someone irritatingly _wrong_ about her that made his blood boil.

 _She smelled like Sting._

 _ **Everything.** S_ melled like Sting.

And Natsu was losing his mind.

Yeah, it wasn't as noticeable in the air unless you came too close to Yukino. Fine. If they stayed the hell away from Yukino, and were a little less close to Sting (since Sting wasn't just constantly releasing his scent, he smelled normal until he had Yukino in his arms, then he made _sure_ to scent her real good) then really, it was just a tad annoying.

Or at least, that's how it should have been.

Lucy had been dead, alright? It was still a little surreal for her to be back, and regardless of how strong they smelled of Sting, Lucy wanted to be around everyone else too.

Meaning that Lucy had decided that constantly inhaling Sting's _stench_ (Natsu's words, not hers) was a sacrifice she was willing to make to spend time with Yukino. They' lost a lot of time to be fair, especially on Yukino's part. To Lucy, it couldn't have been all that long because Spirit World time was weird and that had been where she'd been spending most of her time as of late, but still. Her and Yukino hadn't had time to really catch up since about two or three weeks before Lucy's accident.

So, when Lucy wasn't back with the rest of Team Natsu or bantering with Gajeel or making pleasant conversation with Rogue, or freaking canoodling with her mate, she was with Yukino.

Which mean that _Lucy started to smell like Sting._

Which, to Natsu, was completely and utterly 100% not okay. (And don't even start with Gajeel, he had Levy all the way up front with him and Pantherlily, debating the pros and cons to living off an all-metal diet.)

Look. Natsu and Lucy had been a long time coming, not to mention that she had been _dead_ for a little while. Needless to say, Natsu and Lucy hadn't been any less sickeningly in love as Yukino and Sting were. They were as soul-matey as much as any other pair of Mates.

But Natsu hadn't felt the need to freaking _fumigate_ all of Magnolia with his personal scent. (Okay, so maybe he was exaggerating a little bit. He had, actually, scented her very thoroughly but that had been in the Spirit World and Lucy hadn't even been conscious for most of it. The only ones around to complain about it were Virog and Loke, but they had eventually learned to just deal with it. )

The reason for scenting one's mate was arbitrarily an instinctual thing, to ward off others and make a claim. And while it was stupid, the whole thing kinda led Natsu's instincts to leap to 'Sting is trying to scent and claim my mate.'

Which didn't really go over well.

So yeah, he was kinda tense.

The fact that Lucy didn't seem to understand how much he was _not okay_ with his mate smelling like someone else wan't exactly helping either.

Natsu wasn't great at a lot of things.

He wasn't great at submitting, he wasn't great at reading a room and he most certainly was _not_ great at being subtle.

Which was how the pack of Mages travelling through the woods basically boiled down into a big testosterone-fueled ball of tension between two of the most powerful Mages in all of Magnolia.

Natsu and Sting _weren't talking_.

Because as much as Sting made the place absolutely _reek_ of his own personal scent, Natsu being challenged brought out a primal, furious instinct that to his credit- wasn't exactly something that he had any _control_ over.

It was biology, an uncontrollable reaction that was as involuntary as breathing. The Slayer inside of Natsu had registered the threat, and _least_ drastic response had been to get his mate back to smelling like _him_ and not like some other guy- not matter how irrational it was.

Which led to basically _everything_ in a ten mile radius reeking of the two Slayers fighting to have the dominant scent.

Rogue and Gajeel had ended up just plugging both their noses and walking very, very far ahead of the group, and Lucy and Yukino had continued babbling on about trivial things; catching up and all that while somehow managing to be disappointingly oblivious.

Strangely enough, the one who broke first was Gray.

"You. And you," he bit out, first pointing at Natsu, then at Sting. "I'm a normal human being with a normal nose, and even _I_ can smell you guys from miles away, so if you could cut the crap and quit it with the "let's see who can make the most things smell like me" contest, we'd all really appreciate it," Gray nearly snarled. Sting and Natsu's eyes met, their gazes so close to withering that Gray would later swear that he saw the grass around them wilt.

"Hmm, what's this?" Yukino frowned to herself, bending down to dig at something strange nestled in the gnarled roots of an old tree.

Yukino collapsed, her body spasming and twitching uncontrollably for a few seconds. Lucy, at her friend's side immediately, made a strangled noise when Yukino's body went motionless like a dead fish.

"Yukino?" Sting called as he and Natsu broke eye contact, their little issue completely forgotten to the both of them. "Yukino what's wrong?"

She didn't respond, laying limp in Lucy's arms.

He scrambled over to her, hands clawing in the dirt as he slipped and fell in his hurry.

"Yukino," he panted out, reaching out to take her from Lucy. "Hey Yukino it's Sting. Yukino can you hear me?" Sting asked, one hand cradling her head up as he sat and lowered her into his lap. She remained unresponsive.

"Wendy," he called, voice shaking. "Wendy something's wrong with Yukino!" He peeled off one of his gloves, fingers reaching just under her jaw to find her pulse point.

Things happened very slowly after that.

First. He touched his two fingers to the juncture just under her jaw.

Second. Yukino's eyes flew open, and Sting let out a relieved sigh.

Third. Yukino let out a bloodcurdling scream.

* * *

Yukino scrambled out of Sting's reach, eyes wild and pupils blown wide and dark.

"Don't touch me," she said meekly, shoulders trembling with her eyes glued to the ground. " _Please."_ Sting, completely dumbfounded, stared at her. She looked up, and upon meeting his intense gaze, looked back down quickly, biting her lip nervously.

No one moved.

She looked up slowly, her entire body drawn in like she was sure she was going to be jumped at any second. Her eyes went from mage to mage, and once she landed on Lucy, her shoulders relaxed.

"Lucy Heartfilia," she spoke silently. "I know you. You feel... like a Spirit now."

Her statement was said with clear intrigue and surprise, and her head cocked to the side. The energy Lucy was emitting was unmistakably Celestial, but Yukino's strange declaration set alarms off in Lucy's head.

Lucy, eyes cautious, moved forward to crouch and take Yukino's hand in hers. Immediately, Yukino gripped it gently, and their eyes met.

"Yes," Lucy said, drawing the word out as she nodded her head. "Yukino, I'm _your_ spirit." She turned to look at Natsu, and the two of them seemed to share an entire conversation in those few seconds.

 _Something is very, very wrong._

Yukino breathed out a laugh, shaking her head. Then she stopped, frowning to herself.

"I- I know that's not possible but I-" she paused, nose wrinkling. "-that _feels_ right to say. It doesn't make any sense but- I mean that's impossible, right?" Yukino's hand flies down to her belt loop, and she physically blanches at the amount of keys she finds hooked to her hip. "These, these aren't mine," she denies, unclipping them hastily. She began prying Lucy's old Celestial Keys off, and it didn't go unnoticed by anyone that she was pointedly _not_ looking at Sting and Rogue. Sting moved forward, hand reaching out to hers when Yukino physically blanched.

Lucy put a firm hand on her wrist instead, stopping her frantic detachment of the small gold ornaments.

"Yukino," Lucy said calmly, though a silent storm seemed to be brewing behind her eyes. "Yukino, can you tell me how you got here?"

"No," Yukino said after a few minutes of heavy silence "I... I'm not even sure where we are."

Sting's breathing hitched.

"But you know all of us, right? You know all of our names?" Lucy pressed, her fingers crossed, as she prayed to whatever higher power was out there. Yukino nodded without hesitation, eyes alight with recognition. They seemed to all exhale in that moment, relief washing over them.

"Yukino, can you tell me what the last thing you remember is?" Wendy asked, stepping forwards. Yukino nodded, eyes bright.

"The last thing I remember is being at the Grand Magic Games," Yukino declared. Sting breaks out into a weary smile.

 _That was only a day or two ago._

"I remember Lucy almost being killed in the water sphere," Yukino continues quietly. "I remember Minerva dropping her from the sky."

Sting stops smiling.

"Yukino," Levy breathes, eyes terrifyingly wide. "That was over a year ago."

* * *

"What?" Yukino breathes, eyes becoming glassy with tears. "That's- that's _impossible._ " She denied, shaking her head back and forth.

"Yukino," Sting interjects, his voice strangled with hysteria because no, _no_ this is not happening. "Yukino it's true, I swear, I _promise_. We lost the Games last year," Sting begins, almost pleading with her. "I-"

"And why should your promises mean anything to me?" Yukino spits, eyes determinedly locked onto her hands, voice shaking but hostile. "Why should I give a crap about what you tell me? Your word means _nothing_ to me," Yukino says, tears dripping onto her clenched fists.

It's a new kind of awful, listening to the sound of Sting's heart breaking.

His breathing is the most noticeable. Mostly because it becomes ragged and desperate, like the oxygen making its way through his veins just isn't enough- like it hardly makes a dent in the blur of horror ringing in his head.

Sting swears he can hear his heart stop beating. He can feel the horrible twist in his stomach, as everything in his stomach threatens to make a reappearance on the forest floor. He feels like he's free falling down an endless hole, like there's a ball of lead in his throat because _this is all wrong._

"Yukino," Lucy breathes, her own eyes watery. "Yukino you can't mean that."

"The hell I do," Yukino says, curling farther in on herself, like she's preparing for a blow. "I lost everything, my home, my family. And he- him and his brother and _Minerva_ -" Yukino nearly chokes on the last name. "They just watched and laughed like it was some sort of joke. Like some sort of sick entertainment, because tormenting poor little stupid Yukino has always been so much _fun_ ," Yukino's voice is dripping with poorly concealed malice. Her eyes then went wide, and she slapped a hand over her mouth.

"I- I didn't mean that," Yukino stammered, and Sting could feel her own fear in his veins. She curls in on herself, her entire body trembling like a cornered animal. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to speak badly of you two or Minerva-"

A horrible jolt courses through Rogues body, because it slams into him like a ton of bricks.

"The last thing she remembers is the day after we kicked her out of the guild," Rogue says, so quietly like it's a horrible secret, one that should never have been said aloud.

Sting's pupils go dark and wide, head nearly spinning on top of his neck.

"I- I don't understand," Yukino cried out to nearly deaf ears, all of them reeling with the implications of what this meant. "This doesn't make any sense I-"

"Everyone," Erza called out, sounding suspiciously calm. "I think I have an idea what happened."

Rogue, whipped around, eyes frantic, while his brother remained stone-still.

"What, what is it?"

Erza unsheathed her sword, bending down to hack out what looked like the hilt of an old weapon, a shiny jewel set in the old metal. "Yukino was trying to dislodge this just before she collapsed. It has some sort of runes on the blade, see?" She asked, yanking it free with single tug.

"Wait don't touch that!" Wendy cried, just a few seconds too late. Erza momentarily paused, mentally berating herself for doing something so stupid. She held her breath, tensed in anticipation.

"...you're wearing gauntlets," Gajeel muttered, studying the script carefully. "It's a curse, see? Like the ones Freed uses. Those characters, it's an old dialect of Jutsu Shiki runes. It spells out F-O-R-G-E-T, see? Probably activated by skin on skin contact," Gajeel said, and everyone pivoted to stare.

Upon the strange looks he was receiving, he grunted.

"Levy's really into this kind stuff and she asks me to help sometimes," he grumbled defensively. "I do pay attention, you know."

Levy smiled in spite of herself.

"So it's an induced memory wipe," Gray groaned, head falling into his hands. "Great. _Great,_ that's just what we needed right now. Fuck."

"Smells like the burglars," Natsu said, sniffing at the rusty weapon. "Yeah, probably just a trap set to shake mages off their trail. What better way to get someone to stop following you than make them forget they're tracking you in the first place?"

"What's going on?" Yukino asked again meekly. "You said something about memory wipe- that's..."

"That's definitely what happened," Levy confirmed, holding the blade in Gray's discarded shirt and studying it carefully. ( _"hey wait, how the fuck did you get my-" "don't leave your shit lying around, idiot")_ "This dialect is practically ancient but yeah, Gajeel was right."

Gajeel groaned. "Goddammit."

Sting marched up to Levy and Gajeel.

"So how do we fix it?" Sting asked, voice hoarse. "How the fuck do we get her memories back, because I can't- I can't have her looking at me like that Gajeel," he said, voice thick with emotion. "She's looking at me like she's afraid I'm going to _hit her,_ " he said, voice breaking.

Pity washed over Gajeel, over all the dragon slayers within hearing range. Sting's grief was projecting. Just not over them.

Yukino felt like sobbing. Like her heart had been ripped out of her and torn brutally in front of her. Like something was horribly wrong, like there'd been a horrible tragedy that she couldn't even begin to process.

"I've changed," Sting insisted.

"I know you have," Gajeel answered immediately. "I've seen it."

"-but she hasn't," Sting finished. "She still looks at me and sees the old me; she sees some _monster_ that used to terrorize her _for fun_."

"I can try and dig deeper into the blade enchantment," Levy said, her nose scrunching up at the outdated writing. She looked up an Sting, already pulling her little red glasses onto her nose. "If anyone can do it, it's me,"

Sting's heart filled with hope, his breath catching in his throat.

"But we'll need to find somewhere to set up for the night," Levy said, eyes trailing up to the already setting sun.

"This is gonna take a while."

* * *

Yukino was a perceptive girl.

Meaning when she'd felt like bawling her eyes out fractions of a second after Sting Eucliffe had frozen up, and then she'd felt a warm just as he'd cracked a smile, she'd noticed. The moment he'd gone to sleep and drifted of in the cave they'd found refuge in, she'd felt at peace instantaneously.

"His emotions are influencing mine," she stated, voice quiet, eyebrow lifting. "Care to explain?" She asked, turning to Lucy, who was currently snuggled up next to Natsu against the cave wall, hands linked.

Natsu groaned.

"Mating bond. Just because she doesn't remember you, doesn't mean it doesn't exist," he muttered over to Gajeel, who was looking across the cave some twenty feet at Levy, who was poring dutifully over the cursed blade. "Shared emotions man, that's gotta be fucking rough."

"Well..." Lucy trailed off, looking over her shoulder at Natsu. He nodded slowly. gently squeezing her hand in his.

"Yukino, what do you know about Dragon Slayers?" Lucy asked.

"I know a fair amount," Yukino said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "I made it a point to when we were back in Sabertooth, which from what I understand, I _am still_ a member of?" Lucy nodded. (They'd spent the last few hours trying to fill the gaps in Yukino's memory, carefully avoiding the topic of mates until right now. _)_ "Anything specific you're looking for?"

Lucy paused, quickly changing the topic.

"You know, you and Sting are actually very close nowadays?"

Yukino paused, a little laugh escaping her lips.

"You're kidding."

"Afraid not," Natsu said, eyes tracking her facial expression warily.

"That's Sting Eucliffe," Yukino reiterated very nervously. "That's one of the most powerful mages I've ever met (Natsu bristled a little at that, but Lucy nudged him gently as a warning), the pride of Sabertooth right after Minerva, and all he's ever seen me as is a weak Celestial Mage who's not strong enough to bear our guild mark."

"Yukino-"

"No, he's right. I wasn't strong enough for Sabertooth. Not the old one anyway. Not cutthroat enough to stay there, which I can't really say I regret. The new one you've described seems... like a dream," Yukino admitted "like a dream that's too good to be true. But... I m excited to see it."

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts.

"II mean- you know Sting is just- _Sting._ He's- well from what you tell me he's a genuinely sweet guy now, but he's-" she kicked at a stray rock. "He's- well he's like some sort of powerhouse or something and I'm just me," Yukino said. "I can forgive, because everyone deserves a second chance. You tell me he's changed, and while I don't remember being close friends with you," she said, gesturing at Lucy and Natsu. "I do remember you going to Sabertooth to fight for what they did to me. So I believe you..." she trailed off.

"I think. Still weird to think about."

"He's changed Yukino. He's a good guy; both of them are," Natsu reassured her with a smile. "I know you look at them and see two... monsters that-"

"I don't think I'd use the word monster," she cut in suddenly.

"For years, they were my heroes, kind of. They were my age, but they were incredible. True, they were kind of jackasses," she said, and they all laughed at that. "I know some of the stuff I said about them earlier was kinda harsh, but to be fair, the last time I remember seeing them is when I had my mark erased and was kicked out."

"But I looked up to them, Sting especially. When he was away from Minerva and his brther he was kind of... okayih. Just, don't tell him that. I don't know if his ego can stand any more inflating," she giggled.

"It was when they got older, and I finally got on their radar that they noticed me. And, not in a particularly good way."

"Yukino, you don't have to-"

"Yeah, it's okay. I'd like to talk about it, if that's okay."

"Of course," Lucy said, offering a slight smile. "I'm here to listen."

"I had like, this massive crush on Sting when we were kids," Yukino admitted. "Then, I dunno, we got older and it was painfully obvious that I liked him, so Minerva stepped in and beat the crap out of me until I said I didn't."

Lucy sucked in a harsh breath.

"It wasn't _just_ Minerva, you know? She couldn't just beat it out of me, Sting is- _was_ kind of an ass. He only got worse over the years, or at least, he did when he was around Master or Minerva. Kind of like he needed to impress them. I get it but... I can't respect that."

Lucy inhaled deeply.

"...he's a good teammate," Lucy said quietly, a strange feeling overcoming her. "I'm telling you this because you need to know Yukino, and it's very important that you understand why Sting does what he does starting now. I don't know what could happen while we're out here, and I want you to know that Sting will give his life to protect you without a second thought. He-"

"I'm mated to him, aren't I?" Yukino asked, looking as nonchalant as is asking what time of day it were.

They gaped at her, even Levy looking up from her work.

"How the ever loving _fuc-_ "

"Gajeel, language," Levy scolded. "But seriously Yukino, how the hell?"

"I can smell him everywhere. My moods keep changing whenever his do, and for some reason I keep inching towards him without meaning to. I may not remember it or recognize him as my mate, but my body definitely does."

Gajeel cracked a grin.

"Knew I liked you for a reason," he said, scratching at his jaw. "Can't believe you figured it out so quickly but also... how you taking it?"

"I'm observant," she said, winking at him, then quickly sobered. "I don't know... It feels like some sort of intricate practical joke, but it feels even more wrong to deny it. I keep reaching out to touch him, even though that doesn't make any sense."

"...do I love him?" Yukino asked after a slight pause, eyes locked on Sting, who was sleeping next to his brother.

"Yeah," Lucy said. "You two are absolutely _disgusting_."

Gray choked on a laugh, continuing to create little figurines of ice in his palm.

"Can't say I argue with that."

* * *

Four hours later, the group had dwindled down to the two girls, both crouched around a fire they'd lit when the sun had finally gone down. Lucy had returned to the Spirit World with Natsu several hours ago, though for her it would feel like a few seconds, maybe a minute tops.

"I got it!" Levy cried excitedly, "I can re write the enchantment!"

"Really?" Yukino said, scooching over closer. Levy nodded enthusiastically.

"Right here; look!" She said, touching her quill to the tip of the blade. A long line of text came shooting out, curling out like one long iridescent ribbon of ancient runes into the ceiling of the cave, spilling out and tangling in threads of starlight. Yukino's mouth dropped open.

"Oh my," Yukino breathed. "Levy this is, this is amazing! And you wrote all of that?" She gestured towards the vast ceiling of the cave, lit up with thousands of letters she couldn't recognize.

"Yeah, well, everything but that bit," Levy said, pointing at a small segment of darker, duller characters. "That's the original rune curse that you activated, and from what I can tell, your memories weren't wiped. They were transferred. The dagger contains them, and I rewrote the Justu Shiki magic around the original enchantment to release the year you lost back to you."

"You are literally the most amazing person ever."

"You know, it's actually sort of interesting. The dagger yanks out a year of memories, and the shock of it makes the person scream. Logically speaking, it's the perfect trap to shake a tail. You make the tail forget what they're doing, and it also helps narrow down the location of whoever was following you. Your little seizure was your body at a loss, trying to fill the empty space. Lucky for us, we're a few days behind, so they were nowhere close."

"Levy, this is... incredible. I don't know how to thank yo-"

"We're close friends," Levy interrupted, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. " And while I don't think we'd have trouble getting there again, I think Sting is losing his mind. I want to see him happy again. You're not... unhappy per se, but if you'd ever seen two mates together, you'd realize how strange it is to see them apart. Everything just.. I dunno, fits."

Levy cleared her throat, hoping the yearning hadn't been as obvious in her voice as she'd thought.

Yukino made no immediate comment, but squeezed her hand lightly.

"... I have a good feeling about you two. It'll work out, alright?"

"Let's solve one love life crisis at a time, shall we?" Levy said, smirking. "C'mon girl, let's put your memories back where they belong. I want to see you happy again."

* * *

"Hey Natsu?" Lucy asked, closing her eyes as she felt Celestial Magic flooding back into her veins.

He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.

"Yeah, Luce?' He asked, rubbing comforting circles in her bare shoulder. "What's bothering you? I can feel it," Natsu said,

"You- You know I only want what's best for you, right Natsu?" Lucy asked, muffling her voice into his scarf.

"...Lucy, you're kinda scaring me," Natsu admitted, pressing a kiss to her temple. "What's going on up there?"

"What are we gonna do Natsu?" Lucy asked, voice small. "I don't wanna watch everyone I care about slowly get older around me. I don't... I don't want to outlive my friends by decades, Natsu. I don't want you to either."

"Lucy, you're being dumb right now," Natsu said fondly. "We'll figure that out, alright? Because they're my family, but they're your family too. I'm not gonna let you out of my sight, or let you do some stupid self-sacrificing thing. Where you go, I go, fair? I lost you once, like hell I'm gonna lose you a second time."

She smiled up at him, eyes full of some emotion that he couldn't name.

"I love you, Natsu Dragneel," she said as an anwer,

"Aww, love you too. Now c'mon Luce, we should get back. A couple of us wanna talk to Sting before we leave. Gajeel definitely wanted to say something."

* * *

"You ready?"

Yukino inhaled, rolling her shoulders back.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

Levy dropped the dagger into Yukino's hands, and Yukino muffled a groan at the sudden rush of memories. Her fingers curled over the edge of the blade, and Levy gasped at the blood that came out of her friend's palms.

Sting groaned in the background, still deeply unconscious.

"Holy Mavis Yukino, stop! You're hurt!"

"No," Yukino panted, shying away from Levy. "No wait I can do it," Yukino inhaled deeply, eyes scrunched in concentration. "No Levy don't let it finish I can-"

Yukino gasped, eyes bright. She sat there, panting, eyes wild.

"I- I'm good," she stammered, shaking her head. "Yeah- you-" she stopped.

"I-" she began, looking slightly puzzled. "I'm back."

"You okay?" Levy asked, staring at her face intently. "You're looking kinda pale."

"Yeah just," she shook her head. Everything just feels... different. Stronger. Everything's messed up now, like everything was yanked out and shoved back in. Like," she ran a hand over her face, blood streaking across her pale skin. "Shit, I forgot."

"Yukino, I'm gonna go wake up Wendy," Levy said worriedly, already standing. "Just stay there."

While Levy went to shake Wendy awake gently, Yukino clenched her fists, looking over at her sleeping mate.

 _"-she's looking at me like I'm going to **hit** her."_

She hadn't lived this long by having poor senses. And whether she'd wanted to admit it or not while she'd lost that year, she'd always been finely tuned to Sting.

 _I was **scared** of him. I made him upset, and I said all those awful things to him. He was afraid of hurting me,_ Yukino reminded herself again, roughly swallowing. The idea of Sting hurting her seemed... completely insane now. But she'd genuinely been afraid of Sting. She'd almost forgotten how scared she'd been of him. Though, by the haunted look Sting had worn when Yukino had said those awful things to him, he hadn't. (She idly wondered just when he'd realized he was her mate.)

Yukino didn't say much as Wendy came to slow the bleeding form her hands, deep in thought.

"Thanks Wendy," Yukino said with a tired smile. "Go back to bed. I'll manage. You too Lev."

Cautiously Levy and Wendy retreated to her sleeping packs, waiting several minutes to see if Yukino's condition worsened.

"Go to bed," Yukino said with an encouraging smile. "Don't worry about me; I'm fine. Promise. I just... have lot to process."

They go to bed, and Yukino finds herself sitting by the embers of a dying fire, dried blood srying over her unwounded hands and in streaks down her face, left with only her thoughts.

It was... confusing, to say the least. To lose memories and suddenly have them back. Yukino thinks the worst part is probably the remembering of the time when she didn't have her memories with said memories back, and the logic of it all makes her head spin.

It was like having the memories of two different people in her head. The memories of a cruel, viscious Sting and Rogue had been dredged up to the surface, making Yukino's stomach churn.

 _That wasn't them. Not anymore, you watched them change._ She thought asentmindedly, drawing patterns in the dirt. _How could you ever have been afraid of them? Rogue's like a kid; sweet and looking to help, and Sting is well... Sting. Guess they're not the only ones that changed._

Yukino's stomach gave another painful lurch at the thought of her two best friends being her greatest tormentors, the though almost making her physically ill.

Across the cave, Sting gave a moan of discomfort, twisting in his blanket.

Yukino startled, head whipping in his direction, gaze immediately turning fonder as she locked in on his sleepy pout.

Yukino, tired and cold and physically and emotionally drained, considered going back to her sleeping pack and dozing off for a few more hours, then completely rejects the idea in favor of curling up with her snoozing boyfriend. (even now she gets a little thrill thinking the word; never in a million years would she have thought this was possible.)

Sliding into the warm bundle, tucking her head into his chest, Yukino fell asleep within seconds, the steady beat of Sting's heart thrumming under her fingers.

* * *

Natsu and Lucy appeared in the cave in a sudden burst of energy, rocking back on their heels from the sudden kickback.

"Sorry," Lucy giggled, upon seeing Natsu's slighly shaken expression. "I'll get better at that eventually."

"You're lucky I love you so much," Natsu murmured, hands sneaking around her middle. "Yeah you better- I don't know if I like the idea of having the ground ripped from under me every time we have ot go back to the Spirit World."

Lucy sobered at that.

"Natsu... You know eventually I'm going to have to go back for longer than a minute or two. You know you don't have to come for those trips; right? You'd be mssing days, weeks of your life here in Magnolia. What abour your life in Fiore? You won't be able to-"

"Lucy," Natsu cut her off, eyes darkening. "Stop it, you dummy. I don't care what I lose here. They're.. my family, but you are the _other half of my soul_ , do you understand? You are worth it. I don't care if there are things I can't do anymore, I don't care if-"

Natsu's head jerked up, eyes narrowing.

"I smell blood."

* * *

"Where?" Lucy responded immediately, eyes scanning the cave. "My eyesight got better when I was became Andromeda but my nose isn't _that_ good. Who?"

"It's Sting," Natsu said, already bounding over. "Fuck," he said, working to get him out of the bag. He stopped, nose wrinkling in confusion.

"It's Yukino," he said, though this time it sounded more like a question. "She's in here too. She just smells too much like Sting for me to- hey!" Natsu said as Sting shot out and encased Yukino's body under his, eyes dangerously dark and warning.

"Don't touch her," Sting breathed, nostrils flaring. He looked like rabid animal, fangs bared and body tensed in anticipation of a blow.

"Uhm, Natsu?" Lucy asked, voice wavering.

"He's got a lot of new hormones now. His first job is to protect her from harm; everything else comes after," Natsu said, and gently resting on Sting's shoulder. "Sting, it's me. Something's wrong with Yukino."

Sting shook his head, looking slightly disoriented by noticably more in control of himself.

"I don't feel anything," Sting said with a frown. "I should have felt something if she got-" He cut off, seeing dried streaks of blood coloring her face. "Shit. Shit where is she bleeding from?" Sting hissed, gently shaking her awake.

"Yukino, Yukino can you hear me?"

Yukino groaned lowly, rolling over to one side.

" _Yukino_ ," Sting hissed, face screwing up with worry. He could feel his breaths coming in shorter gasps and-

"Mmfine," Yukino grumbled out, arms drowsily coming up to loop around his neck. She pulled him down to touch their foreheads together, bumping their noses gently. Sting's heart leapt inot his throat. Being assaulted by her scent was like a breath of fresh air, now that she would finally tolerate being within three feet of him.

"I'm just tired. Levy fixed me up," Yukino said, tapping her temple softly. "I've got it all back up here."

"You're back?" Sting asked, hope fluttering in his stomach. "You," he swallowed nervously. "You remember? Me, Rogue? Us?"

"Yeah," she said, expression melting into something so heartbreakingly _fond_ that Sting's heart skipped a beat. "It... It was _really_ unpleasant. It's like a massive hangover; having a year's worth of memories crammed back in, but-" she broke off. "Totally worth it."

"I missed you so much," Sting said, crushing Yukino to his chest. "The bleeding though, what happene-"

"Gripped the knife a little too tight," Yukino said dismissively, turning up her palms for Sting to see. "Wendy healed me up; I'm just peachy," Yukino beamed at him, eyes turning into little crescents.

"...I swear being friends with you all is like living in a really crappy romance novel," Gray groaned sleepily from across the cave, irritatedly turning around in his sleeping bag.

"I'm going back to sleep everyone please shut up now thanks."


End file.
